How to write your novel in three drafts: the method that keeps you moving forward

Writing a novel can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to perfect every page as you go. But what if you didn’t have to get it right the first time? What if, instead, you focused on getting it down, shaping it later, and only polishing once the story is in place?

That’s the power of the three-draft method — an approach popularised by Matt Bell in his excellent craft book Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts. At its heart, this method gives writers structure, clarity and, perhaps most importantly, permission to keep going when things feel messy.

Here's how it works:

Draft One: The Messy Draft

This is the exploratory phase — all chaos and creativity. Bell encourages writers to embrace the freedom of the first draft by letting go of perfection and simply writing forward. Forget polished prose. Forget structure. Just get the scenes down. 

Follow your excitement. Jump ahead. Skip the boring parts. Write what you do know and discover the rest as you go.

'Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.' Anne Lamott

This phase is about generating material and building momentum. You don’t need to be a pantser or a plotter — most writers are a blend of both anyway. What matters here is progress, not polish.

“I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” — Shannon Hale

As Bell says, ‘Disorganisation is an excellent sign.’ It means you’re reaching for something bigger than a safe idea. 

You’re discovering your story.

Draft Two: The Method Draft

Now you’ve got material to work with. In the method draft, you step back and re-approach the novel with structure in mind. Bell suggests outlining at this stage, creating maps, arcs, grids — anything that helps you shape your writing into something with clear emotional and narrative momentum.

Importantly, Bell recommends rewriting from scratch, not revising the first draft line by line. That idea might sound radical, but it can free you from clinging to scenes that don’t serve the story. Think of it as re-visioning the novel, not tweaking it.

This is the time to deepen character arcs, develop themes, and strengthen connections. It’s not about polishing sentences. It’s about making the novel make sense.

Draft Three: The Polished Draft

This is where you refine the prose. You’ve done the generative work. You’ve clarified the structure. Now it’s about rhythm, clarity, tone and voice. It’s where you trim excess, strengthen dialogue, and pay attention to sentence-level choices.

You might bring in trusted beta readers at this stage — people who can reflect the story to you and help you refine its effect. Some call this the submission draft. Bell calls it the design draft — the version you’re proud to send into the world.

Why it works

The beauty of the three-draft method is that each phase has its own focus. You don’t have to wear all the hats at once. That separation of purpose helps prevent burnout, fear of the blank page, and overthinking.

Too many writers get stuck trying to write and edit simultaneously. Bell’s system reminds us that mess is not failure — it’s step one.

And with every draft, the novel becomes sharper, focused, and alive.

In short: don’t aim to write a perfect book in one go. Aim to write the book you can build on.

And then refuse to be done until it’s the book you meant to write all along.

“You’re not trying to write the book. You’re trying to write the book that will give you the book.” — Matt Bell