My literary agent wants me to write a more commercial version of my novel and my best friend, who's also a writer, keeps telling me to protect the weird experimental parts because that's what makes it mine. I'm caught between their voices in my head every time I sit down to revise, and I can't tell anymore what I actually think the book needs.
More people experience this than they realize.
External voices about a novel's potential can drown out the writer's own sense of what the work requires.
“Where Are You with The novel — form and possibility?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.