Revising Short Stories: Building a Tree Branch by Branch

I used to find myself revising until my initial story had morphed - usually into a completely different story and one that wasn't coherent or well.. good. Frustrated and disappointed I would toss it in a pile and hide it away. I felt like I hadn't remained true to my initial idea for what I was trying to say and I had lost the threads that held the story together in the first place.

Many writers love revising - they think of it as the phase of writing in which the story really comes alive and manifests itself; where the story begins to breathe and interact with the reader. I'm learning to love revision as well although, it's a tempestuous relationship and I don't like her mother (she whines about my punctuation).

I've gotten a lot better at revising - practice creates improvement. I often wonder if I am killing good darlings in revision and I'm still figuring out when and why to axe things that aren't working towards making a strong story.

One of the exercises that I've been working on is one in which I revise a layer of craft at a time. If you consider each aspect of craft as a branch, as you revise and rework each one, you are creating a tree that is your story. Your branches will intertwine supporting each other. This builds a strong tree comprised of the different elements of craft growing together. All elements of craft should work together to make your story. Voice, characterization, setting, etc. are tools that work in service of the story and if one of them is not working you need to cut it off and revise that branch.

Many writers that I respect use this revision method so that they a) don't get confused and b) finish that aspect of craft to their satisfaction. I've done at least 20 drafts of one of the stories I'm working on trying this method out to see if it improves my writing. I did revision passes for voice, dialogue, plot, pacing, setting, characterization, and show vs tell. I feel like I'm forgetting some revisions in that list but hopefully you get what I mean.
I'd say overall this has been a very successful experiment. It allowed me to create a level of consistency that I hadn't experienced before in my stories. While it's been hard trying to control my desire for instant gratification (I want the story done NOW!), I've been really pleased and plan on doing this for every story going forward.

I'd love to hear about other writer's processes. Care to share some tips?