This doesn't pertain exclusively to novels, but it may be relevant.
I write for a living. Usually, I write articles or website content. I've been doing this since 1999.
I had no education when I managed to land my first writing job (in-house, at a trade magazine; writer/editor). It was something of a fluke, as a college degree was (obviously) required and I didn't have one. They took a chance on me anyway.
I was 32 years old and, having told anyone who would listen that I was "going to be" a writer since I was 7, had finally landed my first actual writing job EVER. This was my brass ring. I had always told myself I would be a "real writer" once someone paid me for my work.
But weirdly, every single month, with every single article, department and mini-feature, I was terrified that THIS time they'd realize what a horrible writer I was. My secret would be out and I'd be fired. So although I'd dreamed that a real writing job (which this was, full-time) would make me a "real writer" and mean that I could "really write," that didn't come true.
What happened instead is that I moved the bar. I considered it luck and a fluke that I'd been able to interview with the company (long story) and I knew it wasn't exactly creative writing, so I decided I'd be a "real writer" when someone wanted to pay me for an original article I'd conceived myself (not something someone else outlined and I then wrote).
In 2005 that's what happened. I began working from home and websites were paying me to write.
Did that mean I had finally succeeded? No. After that I moved the bar. FINALLY, I was going to write my novel. I kept putting it off. My final, ultimate terror was, and is, being rejected for something
I conceived AND wrote entirely, without ANY direction or requirements. This of course meant (means) a novel.
Guess what? I am STILL terrified that this time - that's right, coming up on 20 years of being paid for writing later - I will finally be discovered for the fraud and horrible writer I am. I
still do not feel I've succeeded and a niggling little feeling tells me that even if I finish and sell this novel, I'll just move the goalposts again.
I've been paid to write for two decades now and I still fear failure with every word I put on the page.
The good news? After I submit my writing, I generally feel pretty good about it. And yes, it's generally well-received. But while I thought that "real writers" don't fear failure, I have discovered that's wrong. Writing is an art. Even when it's directly outlined, with requirements (as my articles frequently are), it still comes from the heart. It's still a piece of me. Yours is a piece of you. THAT'S why we fear failure. Because we believe that if someone doesn't like our writing, then that person doesn't like
us. We "are" failures from the deepest possible place, in our own minds, anyway. (Actually, that awkward sentence should prove I'm a terrible writer, LOL! I digress...)
Do you write right now? Then you're a writer. Period. You have already succeeded. You're doing something that a comparatively very small percentage of the population can do. It may not seem that way here on the internet, where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting another writer, but it's true. You're an artist. Right now. And art can't fail.
Write. We need your words! I want to read them.
ETA: I've already gone back and edited this run-on sentence-peppered post. Twice. I STILL don't think the post is good. And I never, ever will. I rest my case.