Should You Continue Writing Your Novel if it's Similar to Others? | Advice from a UK Book Editor

Professional book editor in the UK delves into a common question amongst the writing community: should you keep writing your novel if it's similar to another?

It happens to all of us sometimes. We’re excited about a new project, working on it as much as we can and thinking about it nonstop when we’re not working on it.

Then, all this thinking results in a dreaded epiphany: “Am I just copying X novel by Y author?” Or maybe you’re excitedly telling your friend about the story, and they say, “Sounds like the book Z,” and your bubble of joy bursts.

What do you do when this happens? I mean, besides sitting in bed and eating ice cream by the scoopful out of complete despair? Do you scrap it all and try to find something new? Or can you keep going knowing your novel isn’t original?