The systematic “draft by draft” approach to a completed story for which George advocates reminds me a little of the approach that some classical string players use to ready a new piece for performance. They set their metronome to a slow speed, only increasing it notch by notch as they engineer out the rough parts, eventually arriving at a performance-ready outcome (hopefully). Work in preparation isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not yet fully realized.
I only write short stories, the form I love most, and have two methods. Well, who says it must be one & anyway you can't have enough methods. This writing stuff is hard enough, so why limit yourself? The first method is what I think of as "marinating". This occurs when the subject is most dear to me. Any initial suggestions of a story, which has appeared as a flash in my brain, I'll have already captured on, usually, an index card. But it must matter to me deeply. Then I "marinate" in (not on, …