I ran into exactly this kind of “who is my protagonist” problem with my second novel, A Recipe for Bees. In the first draft I sent my editor, I wrote the story from the point of view of Rose, a side character, as she recounted the stories Augusta told. But, as my editor pointed out, it was Augusta’s story to tell. I rewrote that story from Augusta’s POV in six weeks and collapsed. It still went on to be short-listed for the Giller Prize, but damn, I wish I’d decided on Augusta’s POV from the start. This book was somewhat inspired by my mother and father’s marriage. In that first draft, I was inserting myself, as Rose, into the story as the listening-in character. I was holding the story at arm’s length, to keep a comfortable emotional distance. But I was also inserting myself as the researcher listening in to Augusta’s stories. The rewrite from my true protagonist’s POV made it a much, much better story.

Very often, though not always, the solution to the “writers writing about writers” problem is to give the protagonist another occupation. Consider that when you change the occupation of your protagonist, you open up new situations and new opportunities for conflict that might better serve the narrative.

We may feel we can’t write about another person’s occupation because we haven’t done that job. But all we have to do is interview people who have. That might just mean interviewing people we already know.

For example, in my novel The Atlas Keeper, the protagonist is a GIS analyst, a mapmaker. It’s not something I’ve ever done, but my husband has. So, I interviewed him and, later, asked him to review the manuscript for accuracy.

You might also consider contacting an expert in the field you’re writing about. If you’re writing about a soccer player, you can contact your local soccer league and talk to a coach or athlete. If you’re writing about an astronaut going to another planet, then contact a scientist at NASA. (I’m not kidding! Check out this resource.)

Everyone gets nervous doing, or even setting up, an interview. The writing life is all about nudging ourselves out of our comfort zone. Here's a link to my article on interviewing with more on that.