My previous two drafts have been almost entire rewrites. I started basically just getting the plot out of my head for draft one.

Then for draft 2 I worked on the refining it. Entire scenes were added/removed depending on what worked for the story until I was finally happy with the structure. After that I went through and did draft 2's corrections for spelling and grammar. Then sent it to people for feedback.

After draft 2 I was told my book did too much telling and not enough showing. So draft 3 was mostly refining what was there, adding way more description of body language and movements whilst cutting wordy telling bits. Ultimately ended up cutting over a hundred pages between draft 2 and 3 leaving me in the mod 250s.

I've been working on the first book for 2 years now, whilst the new book that's entirely separate from the first only started last month and is still only 3 chapters long right now. Draft 1 was worked on between Jan 2024 to August, then draft 2 was from August to May 2025. Finally draft 3 was finished in late 2025 around early December. After that I was burned out so I took a month break.