It's hard to keep it going. I understand that it's tricky getting an agent, and I've managed to swallow rejection after rejection. But it's different when people very close to you aren't interested in your writing.
I feel really good about my story, but no one wants to read it. A couple family members did, because they're family.
One family member who did read it (or most of it, I think) said that it should be illustrated. To be fair, she never reads young adult fantasy, but that kind of comment means to me that my writing doesn't paint a picture - only added drawings would do that. Last time I saw her, she asked if I had illustrated my book yet. As if that's easy to do. I said that I'm nowhere near good enough at drawing - especially the kind of black and white illustrations that would go with this sort of book. Nor can I afford a professional illustrator. Nor do I ever see illustrated fantasy novels. Except in a couple rare cases. Then she asked if instead of a novel, it could be a graphic novel. I told her that would be an entirely different format for everything, and I'm even worse at comics than I am at drawing. At one point, she also said that I should start my story in the middle, when they warp home to visit the family. Then go back to the beginning and start over.Because that would be more exciting?
Again, she never reads these kinds of books. I'm glad that she's one of only five people (all family) that have read past the first chapter. Her suggestions were confusing, but mostly they just seem to say that my book doesn't do its job, and they don't offer any valid fix.
I'm not sure if she's making herself read it, but at least she's trying. Other family members and friends have read the first chapter, said it was great and that they wanted to keep reading. And they never touched it again. One person even said they can't edit it because they're my friend.
When most of the people close to you don't give it the time of day, that's much harder than countless agent rejections.
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