The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endue it. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good. The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.
Fiction has to make sense.
Once you start rewriting, you're not able to stop. With each draft the fundamental banality and worthlessness of the material becomes more evident even as its vitality and spontaneity are drained from it. They're fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves. It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.