I've met writers like that. They have usually had extremely successful careers in something science or computer related. They've now retired and have decided to write a novel. They write one. They send it out; it gets rejected. They methodically send it to every agent and publisher; everyone rejects it. This, one suspects, is the first time these people have had a rejection. They don't understand why.
They lack emotional intelligence. It doesn't matter if you're writing a scientific paper - in fact, empathising all over the place would be a hindrance - but it does matter in a work of fiction. Writing fiction is all about the ability to put yourself in someone else's imaginary shoes, understand how they tick, and then convey that to a reader.
The saddest thing about an author who lacks emotional intelligence is that they lack the emotional intelligence to know it. There's an example of this in action over on How Publishing Really Works where author John Streby reacts to Jane Smith's review of his self-published novel The Devil Won't Care.
The worst example I've come across was a novel which had the hero having sex with a woman who had been brain-damaged, so now had the mental age of an 8 year old child. She was portrayed as a trusting, simple, innocent child. I protested that that was like paedophilia. The author didn't agree - the woman was in her 20s so well over the age of consent, so it was fine as far as they were concerned. I don't know where the law would stand on the issue but I knew where I as a reader stood - it was morally wrong and definitely non-hero action.
I'm not sure why people who lack emotional intelligence want to write fiction in the first place. I've heard one EI-less author announce that they didn't bother reading novels as they were a waste of time, which is a legitimate opinion, but doesn't explain why anyone else should waste their time by reading that author's novel. Another was writing short stories aimed at the women's magazine market, because this was a market that paid, but couldn't understand why stories featuring women who were washed-up, shrivelled shells once past 35 had never got published.
There are definitely genres where EI can matter less - thrillers, for example. Plot, pace and setting can compensate for cardboard characters speaking wooden dialogue. But overall, fiction needs some EI to work.
