The book is steaming along nicely. I have completed about 290 pages of manuscript and I am charging towards the inevitable conclusion. The path has been far from inevitable. I have deviated wildly in the middle away from my outline. However that is precisely why I have an outline,
Instead of becoming lost and confused as to where my story was heading. I grew confident enough to walk away from the path because I knew what my goal was going to be. It has made the story stronger and I hope more enjoyable.
I still feel it’s a story few will like, but I am drawn deeply to it.
Okay, suppose you are right and few people “like” it. Perhaps they prefer stories with happy endings or they want their protagonists to be “good” so they end up not “liking” Cawdor. So works do challenge us. We might not wish a steady diet of that type of work but we know that we ultimatelty appreciate the intellectual challenge from time to time. It is still worth it. (and I hope you are wrong.)