As I wrote here in February 2015, I'm a plotter, not a pantser. I plan every book — and every series — in great detail before writing a word. I cannot even fathom producing a novel "by the seat of my pants."
I am similarly meticulous with drafts. In each of my five drafts, I try to do different things. I attempt to build on what came before.
In the first, or original, draft, I tell the story. I throw everything and the kitchen sink into the manuscript, in case I forget to include something later. And I try to do it within ninety days. As Stephen King notes in his Top 20 rules for writers, an author should complete his first draft within three months lest it look a bit unfamiliar when he is done.
In the second draft, I mold the clay. I usually do this without the assistance of others because I want the first beta readers to get something resembling my best work. At this stage, I attempt to pull random thoughts together and clean up prose that is often rough and foreign. I try to make more than 100,000 words make sense.
I give the third draft to my editor and early beta readers, the ones with subject expertise in medicine, the military, horses, law enforcement, education, and even modern youth culture. I work closely with these folks and even outside sources to remedy my knowledge gaps and fix big problems, like plot holes, that might come back to bite me.
In the fourth draft, I clean up the prose, check facts, and correct inconsistencies not only within the novel but also within its series. If a character has blond hair and brown eyes in one book, she cannot have red hair and green eyes in another. I cannot count the times I have found discrepancies or even plot holes at the eleventh hour.
Most of my beta readers consider the fourth draft or the fifth. They catch the typos and missing words my bleary eyes miss and occasionally offer new and useful insights. They are the people who note the most inconspicuous flaws before the train leaves the station.
I am now several chapters into the fourth draft of The Winding Road, the middle book of the Stone Shed trilogy. I hope to publish the finished novel, which is weeks ahead of schedule, by the end of April.
