Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37990
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'd say no, if they are well written you can get readers attached to many characters and as long as a main character is compelling and relatable they don't have to be particularly likable at all to be satisfying as a main protagonist. David Gemmell's Druss is, for example, a real nasty piece of work a lot of the time but because he has his, obvious, reasons for being that way he's still a good leading character.

A quick note, people don't always see what we want them to see and they don't always miss what we want them not to see. You will have readers who realise what you're doing and where the narrative is going long before you get there this may put people off or it may cause them to get greater enjoyment from the narrative, you don't know until it happens.

My advice in situations like this is always the same, it's the same advice I've gotten from a couple of my favourite authors over the years, "write yourself the story you want to write, the way you want to write it". If it's good enough to get the attention of a publisher you can fight over final styling and other compromises when that time comes.

Original score: 4