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July 3 #WritingWonders : Is it important for an MC to be likeable?
Hrm. Up to a point. I don't need them to be want-as-a-friend likeable, or have-a-drink-with likeable, or even able-to-work-with likeable, but as a reader, we're going to spend a lot of time in their headspace, and they need to be likeable enough to tolerate that.
If it feels squicky down to your bones to be there, you're not going to get much out of the book, never mind enjoy it. I've had to drop a few for this reason.
This is also why my readers won't see any viewpoint characters from, say, the Iltine Union or the Theomachy of Galia. Writing a character from inside their head is an even more intimate experience than reading one.
Sociopath admirals, rogue emergent evil-overlord AIs, crime bosses, corrupt executives, the Fifth Directorate Ethics Committee, even politicians, those I'll do.
But some mindsets are like taking a swim in raw sewage, and those ones I'm only going to show, or write, from the outside.