/edit do we have a discord?
I don't think so. Not long after I made my original post, I felt embarrassed and hid a lot of what I posted. While I was editing my post, my 2 year old popped out of her room and it took nearly an hour to get her back down. I didn't even see your reply until just now.
I appreciate your reply. It does make me feel a little better knowing that I'm not the only one with this issue. I think my major issue with this whole thing was complete ignorance on all levels. My wife is very well read, but beyond Harry Potter, she doesn't read a lot of fantasy or sci-fi, mostly historical fiction. The friend that has also been reading my stories is only familiar with The Dresden Files because it was recommended to her and is on her "To Read" pile.
For me, I mostly read sci-fi and occasionally I dip into fantasy here and there. I honestly didn't think it was that common of a concept. I mean, I knew magic use was pretty common, but outside of say magic schools, vampires, and zombies, I thought I was pretty safe as far as contemporary settings go.
In any case, I'm not feeling so bad anymore. It was a quick one-off idea for NaNoWriMo and to be brutally honest, I have a pretty big list of short stories and ideas that I can go back on that would probably be better anyway. More original too.
I think I was so upset because I was genuinely feeling like this was a sell-able novel but more than that, I was really getting a pretty good feel for the characters. I really started liking them. I think with a little tweaking, I can make a good separation from other similar stories but at this point, I definitely don't feel so invested in it as I did before.
I guess the biggest question now is do I make some serious edits and continue the story, or do I drop it and start something else? Because it was a NaNoWriMo novel, I did next to no prep work. Because of that, I already had my mind on future stories, some continuing on what I wrote, some that were completely new. As much as I enjoyed writing it, I'm not so against dropping it now than I was a few hours ago.
My wife will hate me though. She was really enjoying it.
It has been said that all the great stories have already been written. And you know what? That's no problem at all! I mean, as long as it is not a complete rip-off, having similarities with other stories is inevitable.
I'll tell you something: I've written a book, but I'm feeling it might fail exactly because it doesn't have many similarities with any story I've seen before. It doesn't have a romance, not a lot of personal dramas, the story is told by many different characters and points of view... It's heavily focused on a concept, and the characters are just there to orbit around this concept. I don't know, I feel that because I'm using a concept that I believe is original, I can't help but think that it is a weird story, and people won't feel connected with it. I have some friends currently reading it, so I'm waiting for their feedback. It's not a good feeling to know that I've spent years working on this book on my spare time, depressed and working on a job I hate instead of looking for ways to heal and improve myself, and when I'm finally finishing it, I feel it will fail because of the lack of a human side on it.
Also, you have a wonderful wife!
I can only tell you it's a long loopy journey. I thought I really hated this job that I just quit, but I recently found an old journal of mine and to my shock, I was actually more depressed in my 20's than I was at my current job. Makes me realize a few things: 1. I probably suffer from dysthymia with occational intense bouts of depression. 2. I've never liked a single job I've had. All the jobs I liked, I liked because of the people there. 3. I could have been writing a long time ago if I had the right support from the right people.
It was kind of an epiphany when my wife suggested writing as a career. For whatever reason, I had it in my mind (probably because of my parents), that writing, like any "artist" like an actor or painter, wasn't a real job. You were destined to be starving and living out of a van unless you were one of the lucky 1% that found success. It was much more practical to pick a degree that was useful, something that would give you a job right out of college. This advice hasn't stopped. When I told people I wanted to get a Physics degree if I go back to school in the fall of '17, they tell me the same thing, not many job prospects, narrow path, etc.
Anyway, I realize I'm getting away from what I want to say. Don't give up. Work that shit job only for as long as you have to, but finish that story and publish it. You have to think of it this way; it may never be the next great novel, but what if 1,000 people read it and love it? What if 200,000 people read it? Even with a small following, you could conceivably earn enough to quit your shitty job and write more and full time. Your next story won't take so long because you're not wasting your time at a job you hate.
And you know what? Who cares if it doesn't have romance or personal dramas? I'm kind of sick of that being shoe-horned into everything anyway for the lowest common denominator.
Sorry about the long reply. What you said just hit close to home I guess. I've been there, still am there, sorta. I wish you the best of luck.
