I need some advice...

There, there, tabathabell.

You are definitely not alone in this feeling. Just the other day, I was crying to my husband about literally the exact same thing: what if no one likes it and it's just me writing in this apartment to no one? He said to me, "But you like it." He's a man of few words, but it really struck me. While it is nice and warm and cuddly to write the things you like, the other half of the joy of writing is sharing it with others. But what I think my husband was trying to get at is that there are other people like me, who will also enjoy it. It may seem like you're writing into a vacuum or a niche market, but as many people there are who are very interested in that specific thing, there are a ton more people who will take a chance on a subject they've never read before, and maybe fall in love with it! It is a game of chance, I've been told, but the beating heart of it is you. You said it all yourself: you're very passionate about it and it's not represented the way it should be. Let that drive you. If you write something you're passionate about, you will write it well. And if it's written well, the audience will come.

+1 to everything Valerie Jane said.

I have so been there. For some reason, I make return trips. I don't know why--it can't possibly be for the scenery.

This too will pass. I swear.

Let's look at the worst case. Maybe you don't attract agent interest. There's still the big, bad world of self-publishing out there, and there's a whole subforum on AW devoted to it.

I think your husband is right. The story may or may not need more edits and polishing. But if you like it, someone else will, too. I can't tell you how large an audience that is. I'm still trying to figure out that answer for myself.

Irish mythology is a fascinating source from which to draw tales. I write a lot of retellings myself. There are people out there who want to read this stuff.

Take a deep breath. You'll get through this. Promise.

First drafts are roiling pits of insecurity for me, too, especially once I break the halfway point and realize that "I'm actually doing this". A few suggestions:
1. finish the book for yourself. Write it how you want it to be before showing it around or sharing it. I often find when I share work that I'm nervous about before finishing the whole thing, I create a mental block that makes finishing it 500x harder. I feel too observed.
2. If you're worried that something is problematic (representation of your love interest, etc), you can always find sensitivity readers or targeted beta readers when you're revising to help you work through stuff you might not know.

Best of luck!

Letting a draft sit is sometimes the best thing you can possibly do. Allow yourself some time and distance. I often reread one of my favorite books and go into a revision with the elegant prose still echoing in my head. Once I did this chapter by chapter, since I decided I needed to set each scene better by adding more description.

You'll get through this.

I do the same thing. A few weeks ago, I was sobbing on my husband about my writing. It's juvenile, it's garbage, no one will ever want to read this and I should back the car over my laptop immediately (okay, maybe not that, but you get the point). What I'm trying to say is that it's okay, it's normal. I doubt there are many writers out there who finish a novel, sit back, and go, "Yup. This one is destined for IMMEDIATE publication and all the bestseller lists, because I AM AMAZING." And if those writers do exist, 99.999999999% of them are thrown backwards in their chair by the immediate blast of rejection letters that spray forth from their computer screen.

There's no manual for this. There's no recipe, no exact steps to follow to create an absolute winner of a novel, and that's the crazy-making part, the part that makes us all doubt ourselves. Will your novel be universally loved and accepted by everyone? Nope. And there's no guarantee of publication, either. But here's the deal. I know you love your novel. I know you're pouring your soul into it and that makes it something incredibly special to you. But listen- if it doesn't get published, that's ok. It really is. You'll be okay. Because guess what? You wrote a book! You started it, you finished it, and not every writer gets that far. And if you did it once, you can do it again. Because maybe it's not this book that's the key to getting published. Maybe it's the next one. Or the one after that. Or the one after that. But you won't find out until you cross each and every one of those hurdles. You learn something, multiple things, from each piece you write, so keep writing. Keep learning. Keep leaping, no matter how many times you need to leap, because every no you get is one rejection closer to YES.

The only way you'll know if it sparks interest is to finish it up and query it.

In this business, all you hear is, NO vampires, NO dinosaurs, NO romance, NO spies, NO cozies, NO...
You get the idea.

This business is so subjective, the reason for rejection could be nothing more than your MC has the same first name as the agent's Mother in Law.

If you've been around long enough, you'll start to notice NO, usually precipitates a new crop of published works turned bestsellers extolling the virtues of everything they've been naysaying.

You'll never know unless you try.

Go for it.

ValerieJane said:

There, there, tabathabell.

You are definitely not alone in this feeling. Just the other day, I was crying to my husband about literally the exact same thing: what if no one likes it and it's just me writing in this apartment to no one? He said to me, "But you like it." He's a man of few words, but it really struck me. While it is nice and warm and cuddly to write the things you like, the other half of the joy of writing is sharing it with others. But what I think my husband was trying to get at is that there are other people like me, who will also enjoy it. It may seem like you're writing into a vacuum or a niche market, but as many people there are who are very interested in that specific thing, there are a ton more people who will take a chance on a subject they've never read before, and maybe fall in love with it! It is a game of chance, I've been told, but the beating heart of it is you. You said it all yourself: you're very passionate about it and it's not represented the way it should be. Let that drive you. If you write something you're passionate about, you will write it well. And if it's written well, the audience will come.

Click to expand...

Well said! I know it's a reply to tabathabell, but I feel encouraged by your words, too.

I'm also going to point out something pragmatic with a side of cynical that is specifically aimed at tabathabell.

You are writing mythology-based young adult contemporary fantasy. Rick Riordan made such a name for himself doing this that he was flooded with requests to do all the other mythologies and now there's an imprint or publisher (I'm fuzzy on the details) specifically dedicated to all the mythologies he can't do. Mostly I think that is directed at POC writing their culture's mythos, but what it proves is that there is absolutely, 100% a market for what you're writing.

Also, everything everyone else said, which I need to keep in mind myself more often.

Don't worry about your characters being POC or not. Leave that to the casting director when they make the movie.

I think you've had a lot of good advice and encouragement here, but I just wanted to say, I would ABSOLUTELY read a book based on Irish mythology - in fact, I was just thinking the other day that I haven't really found anything like that. I'd gotten into reading Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles (which is adult urban fantasy), and I was really excited because it focused on Celtic mythology - but then after the first couple of books, it started focusing more on Norse mythology, and I was really disappointed that the big focus wasn't going to be on the Celtic stuff. And the more I thought about it, the more I felt there really wasn't much else there that uses Irish or Celtic mythology. So I think there's definitely an audience out there, because I'm sure I can't be the only one who wants something like that!