I think one's person's unlikeable is another's lovable.
Being a reporter took me out of myself and that shaped me as a writer.
I think narrators expect a high level of intimacy with their readers, and vice versa.
I'll write about California someday, I imagine, but I don't know when.
I had written about a small hamlet upstate, and had been called into a meeting about my story, which, as it turned out, had upset a lot of people.
Of course I'd sometimes have characters from downstate living upstate, but it took a while for me to start writing about where I grew up.