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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/26257
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

> "By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this." — Roald Dahl

Well, I am not quite this bad but it does have me wondering about how many times a novel is generally rewritten until it is suitable for submitting. This author even has a formula:

> 1. vomit draft - let it fly baby
> 2. Story arc pass - main story subplots - overall structure
> 3. MC & supporting character arcs - including character development & embellishment
> 4. grammar/punctuation pass & bad habit pass (adverbs/tense/sentence variety/word choice)
> 
> ...
> 
> 1. Hard copy read - make corrections
> 2. Kindle read - make corrections 
> 
> OUT TO BETAS
> 
> 1. Including Beta notes pass
> 2. Holistic read - wearing my audience hat
> 3. Corrections from Holistic read
> 
> QUERY TIME

But [another writer cautions](http://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-many-rewrites-is-too-many.html):

> Eventually, redrafting will just spoil the novel - there is a danger that the story you set out to write ends up so ‘surgically’ enhanced that it no longer resembles the original story – the intrinsic core of the story has been lost.

There [are entire blogs](http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.ca/2011/11/how-many-drafts-does-it-take-to-get-to.html) dedicated to this question. Frankly, dozens of times seems overdone. Perfect isn't feasible unless you are [this blogger](http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manuscript-revision-from-first-draft-to-last-in-one-cycle/).

But dozens isn't practical, especially given my advanced age. Aside from as many as it takes to find a publisher, does any one know the MEAN [number of drafts for a novel](http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2012/12/how-many-drafts-does-it-take-to-write.html)?

Original score: 3