I'm a terrible writer. I can't do this. I want to cry. I don't like it and it sucks.

I cribbed those words from my *first* post in this *last* year and a half. I'm very grateful for the advice, because it was really helpful. I've been in a continuing funk, and I posted this again in hopes someone can help me out of it.<br><br>So I've been trying to write a novel for about a year and a half at this point (I started before I was on this sub - the first attempt was a true mess). I'm interested in writing them for the same reasons that I really like reading them - I like immersing myself in worlds that someone has built for me. I'm passionate about it, but it's very hard for me. I've read and been given lots of writing tips and advice, and I try to follow some of them, but I don't know if it's doing anything good for me.<br><br>I'm just very frustrated with my writing, to be honest. The character's I've written are dull and I don't like them, the story is very disjointed, the world is cribbed. Everything I have done happens in a vacuum, I have some of the characteristics for the people, places, ideas, and things that I've written for this book, but that's it. I've tried to build up the characters individually and the world, but without the two interacting beyond what I've written for the story, because I like the story better than the other two things. <br><br>The most frustrating thing for me has been my complete lack of dedication and perseverance. There are times when I'm motivated to write, but anytime I actually sit down to do so, I've never ever gotten any real work done. Even now, I'm just a lump on my couch, trying to write this out so I could maybe figure out what I should do. I've made progress in my book, but I haven't touched it in months now, when it was something I was excited about at the beginning. I'm also working on a bunch of short stories in the same universe, which in turn are helping me develop my characters.<br><br>This is also my first major writing project, aside from a couple of short stories and a terrible piece I wrote in high school trying to be a female Hemingway (I had never read him, I had only heard that he wrote very *manly*, which I equated to being simple). <br><br>Not to mention I've never in my life been very good at completing projects I start. This is the longest I've worked on one thing. I'm ready to give up on this, and I'm devastated. I don't know what else I can do, so I can't give up. I'm doing this because I want to. I've never in my life had an interest that I liked as much as this one, that I've worked this hard for. I feel like I've failed and I'm just continuing to disappoint myself. No one else will think about it - because no one else knows what I'm doing.<br><br>Any suggestions on how I can actually write? I'm very frustrated with myself.