Hello, love. :)
First of all, you should be very proud of yourself for even getting up the courage to write a novel. That’s something not everyone can do, for sure. I, myself, would probably never have the courage to write a full novel. So congratulations on that. :)
Secondly, if you’ve lost motivation for it and don’t enjoy it anymore and constantly feel like giving up, then maybe you should take a break from it for a while. Even for just a few weeks, or maybe at least a month. I think that if you take a break instead of forcing yourself to write, you might come back with a fresh perspective and a new desire to work on your novel.
I don’t think you should completely abandon your novel, simply because I can tell you’ve already worked so hard on it. Don’t throw away all that work. Just give all the work you’ve already done time to settle in. If you force yourself to work on your novel, then you probably won’t end up crafting the product you really want.
If writing this novel is not an enjoyable experience for you at this time, just set it away for a little while and come back to it.
You could also work on some other things in the meantime, maybe even short stories or poetry or short prose pieces, just to gain some inspiration and try something new.
If, however, you do take a break from it and then come back and it’s still not enjoyable or motivating to write, then maybe you should put it away for good.
But try the first option first. :) You never know what might happen!
I hope that helped.
Have a wonderful day! xo
P.S. From fattietakesthecake:“To that anon: I never finished my first novel. Like you, I became a different person and the beginning seemed so immature and pointless, so after months of dreading writing and failing miserably, I abandoned it. Since then, I’ve written 5 other novels, and attempted about 3. Just because your first novel doesn’t work out doesn’t mean you aren’t a good writer or even that you aren’t meant to write novels. Sometimes it just doesn’t work and that’s okay. It’s better to start fresh, armed with what you learned from your first attempt, than to bog down in a story that isn’t working. And try not to think of all the time you spent writing your ‘failed’ novel as a waste. All writing practice is good writing practice, you’re only bettering yourself. Besides, writing is supposed to be fun, if you aren’t having fun its probably time for a change.”