: Re: Early investment in a character who "learns better" I'm looking for ways to build early reader investment in an unlikable character who "learns better," but not until fairly late in the book.

You also might consider making someone else the POV, with his or her focus being on your former POV. This would allow you to tell the story, but readers don't have to feel they are inside the head of someone they dislike. Maybe the POV can be a sibling or a cousin, and that person could help the former POV to become a better person.

Having someone other than the POV be the "hero" is something that has been used quite successfully. Sherlock Holmes is my personal favorite. David Weber also does a great job of having a plethora of characters, all looking at the main character.

Could you do alternating POVs, between the sibling/cousin and your main character? That might be a way to give the readers some relief from the initial "bad boy" stage of your protagonist. You might even allow readers to believe your protag is going to be the villain, then redeem him at some point.

One last suggestion; give readers reason to feel sympathy for your unpleasant protagonist. Maybe his father is a real monster, or he has some other horrible things going on in his life that would explain why he is making such bad choices himself. These sympathy points might be a good way to clue the reader in to anticipate his redemption, and give them a reason not to abandon the protagonist.

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: Writing compelling dialogue I try to avoid repeating the prosaic "he said", "she said" structure as much as possible when writing dialogue. But I think overload of complex descriptors "he articulated",

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: Can fanfics be bestsellers? Fanfiction is somewhat of an uncharted territory, which few actual writers/critics take serious note of or are very enthusiastic about. It has been long asked and established

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: Good characters need to be compelling, which is not necessarily the same as relatable but can be. Compelling characters have strong motivations that you, as a reader, understand; a relatable

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: A handful of gems So I'm facing an issue after many years of writing, and several unsuccessful novels. In my own estimation, all my books contain a "handful of gems" --wonderful scenes that

: Re: Early investment in a character who "learns better" I'm looking for ways to build early reader investment in an unlikable character who "learns better," but not until fairly late in the book.

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: Writing compelling dialogue I try to avoid repeating the prosaic "he said", "she said" structure as much as possible when writing dialogue. But I think overload of complex descriptors "he articulated",

: Can fanfics be bestsellers? Fanfiction is somewhat of an uncharted territory, which few actual writers/critics take serious note of or are very enthusiastic about. It has been long asked and established

: Good characters need to be compelling, which is not necessarily the same as relatable but can be. Compelling characters have strong motivations that you, as a reader, understand; a relatable

: A handful of gems So I'm facing an issue after many years of writing, and several unsuccessful novels. In my own estimation, all my books contain a "handful of gems" --wonderful scenes that

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