Rewriting your Stories

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I've noticed that I tend to finish a story, and then, some time later, come back to either rewrite the story, or reboot the series completely. The latter happened with my first novel, which I completely rebooted the universe of for my fifth novel, but keeping a few of the same characters, albeit with modifications.

The former has happened with my second novel, which I have already rewritten once, and I intend to do so again in order to add a little more cultural depth to the novel, as well as change the backstory.

How many people here do this? As in actively think of ways to improve the novel by rewriting it?

I only do short stories, but sometimes it just doesn't 'work'. Sometimes I'll add scenes, change dialog, etc., but rarely do I throw out the whole megilla.

The saying goes "The best writing is rewriting." And isn't improving your work the only reason to rewrite?

Years ago I whipped through a trilogy in less than two years, my first attempt at long fiction, not knowing really what I was doing. I couldn't get any traction on representation, so I put it away. Years later, after working on some other things, I
went back to the trilogy and decided to do a rewrite. But since the three parts of the trilogy are so
intertwined with themes and symbolism, this was like building a three-story house of cards, then going back to rearrange the cards on the first floor without letting the other two stories collapse.

The whole thing is actually an allegory (not a parable), and it has taken some fancy footwork to keep that allegory intact. Just a simple thing like introducing a new character to the beginning threatened to bring down the whole structure, but made the plot richer. It also took some major work on mechanics, I had to study other authors on how to handle multiple points of view, and figure out why they were needed and when to use them.

The main thing I've been trying to do, other than improve the quality of the writing, is to bring out major themes in a more compelling way, to make my points with more skill. I still dip into "preachiness" a few times, but what's the point of writing anything if it isn't going to communicate what you want to say?

Since my target audience is YA, I've kept the trilogy very chaste, which one friend hinted might be a problem (and my husband once told me he considers pornography to be an art form). But that type of writing has no place in my story -- it's completely contrary to the personality of the protagonist (unmarried and religious), and would detract from what I'm trying to say.

Hmm not really. I'm a short story writer only though. I will rough it out, then go back and tweak it to where I want it. Sometimes a couple read throughs to make ajustments, then I leave it as it is.
I've only recently started writing again, so I guess this could change.