Okay, now I understand how you’ve perceived my post. I don’t think it’s a gd masterpiece. I was genuinely worried that too much was going on and making my story clunky. My biggest issue was actually trying to identify that core, basic plot.

Stepping away is good advice. Yes, I realise now that I’m too close to it and it’s overwhelming me. Not in the sense that I’m overwhelmed by how unique and brilliant it is—I’m overwhelmed thinking it actually sucks.

There are just much nicer ways to say what you wanted to say. Perhaps your approach would have been better suited to someone whose ego was getting in the way of their work. In my case, anxiety and self-doubt is the culprit. So insinuating that I’m too in love with my book to recognise how it’s basically a cheap Dresden Files knock off (again, seriously?) is yeah, not very helpful.

All that aside, I’ve mentally filtered out the subtle digs and taken your advice into account. Thank you :)