Writing Struggles are Okay

So, this is going to be a more personal post than I usually make. I’m struggling with my current manuscript. It’s a somewhat-dark fantasy where a middle-aged witch who serves as an undertaker teams up with a succubus who romanticizes her life as if she’s a Disney princess band together to save the kingdom of Highmore from the encroaching undead army of the Dread Empress of Caledar. It’s meant to be sort of a humorous take on dark fantasy.

The struggle is not writing it. The writing is coming fairly easily. It’s trying to decide if I should even continue writing it. My inner critical voice tells me I should abandon it, but I’m struggling to decide how much of that voice is just me being my own worst critic and how much of it is an accurate criticism of the idea. I’m trying to push onward while making this decision, hoping that I’ll figure out the answer before I finish the draft.

I fell in love with the idea when it popped into my head, because I do love the pairing of opposites. And I love the system of necromancy I’ve developed for this witch. There are some really cool things in this draft. Maybe it’s time to let it go? Maybe it’s time to scavenge what I love from it and use that somewhere else? Maybe I should finish the draft?

I don’t have an answer at present. And I’m trying accept that that lack of knowing is okay. My purpose in posting this is not seeking answers, not begging for sympathy. Instead, my purpose is to let others know—especially newer writers who don’t have a lot of experience under their pen—that doubts and struggles are part of the process. A beautiful book is often the product of a lot of early days.

-Robin