Greetings, Champions! I’ve been puttering around my office, getting ready to plot out my next book. (For those keeping track, Enlighten is on the brink of its release, and Puss In Boots is at the chopping block with Editor #2, which means I have a bit of free time! Woohoo!) Plotting is a lot of fun, and it stretches my creativity and imagination as it’s during the plotting that I come up with my characters, world, and story.
This next hero has been a joy to plan out–think Mr. Darcy with his mouth unhinged–but it got me thinking…what kind of heroes do you prefer? I know that there are a lot of differing opinions out there. Some of you love the quiet but affectionate Severin of B&B, others love Callan of The Little Selkie for his sweet but introverted personality, and so on and so forth. No matter what hero I create, some of you will love him and some of you won’t be terribly impressed. It’s not a reflection of there is only ONE kind of Prince Charming/Mr. Right, but the opposite. As we’re all different we’re all going to have our own preferences. (Which is good news, because it means that somewhere out there is someone who will appreciate and love your quirks and personality traits!)
BUT! I’m still curious. You see, I am terribly unloyal as an author, and I love a huge variety of male personalities. I can’t even say I like any male character as long as he’s smart because I ADORED Prince/King Toril of Rumpelstiltskin, and he is an idiot. This is good, because it means you will find all sorts of different personalities in my books, but I’m curious to see what kind of male the majority of you like reading about.
So I’ve created a poll! I decided to use my characters as reference because I know you’ve met these guys, or you wouldn’t be here. (There is nothing more disappointing than waxing on over a character only to discover your conversation partner has never read the book. Yes, it has happened to me. More than once.)
VOTING RULES: If I designed it right, it should allow you to vote more than once, which I’m all for. However, please try to limit yourself to your absolute favorites and please DO NOT vote for the same type of guy more than once! Also, PLEASE comment on this post if you have an additional type you like! Or comment to explain why you voted multiple times, or just comment! I take your responses seriously, so this is a bit of market research for me. Because of that I would really like to see some good discussion take place!
So…cast your votes and get to the comments; it’s time to see who wins!
Good morning,
I need to explain my vote. Normally my ideal hero would not be a prankster or flirt and definitely not sarcastic and opinionated but you did such an incredible job writing the characters Devin, Asher and Aron along with Aysel that I had to vote the way I did. They are the characters whose personalities stand out and are memorable.
I know that this in unrelated but I have been wondering if there will be a new life reader book anytime soon or if there will be any new book at all
Honestly, I personally love when a guy is slightly possessive, but is also really sweet and goes out of the way to do things for his girl.
Unfortunately, I don’t think many of those guys exist. 🙁
My theory is that all men are naturally possessive to some degree when they discover something good. If that’s true, then I think you should just keep your eyes open for the genuine sweethearts. I’ve always had way more male friends than female, and it always made me so mad that girls often overlooked these really sweet (and sometimes slightly nerdy) guys. There are A LOT of those guys out there, I promise. Just turn your eyes away from the blindingly flashy guys who always get all the attention, and instead look around to see who is standing off to the side in the shadows. A lot of *those* guys are amazingly awesome, but no girl knows it yet, because she’s never tried to get to know them. I’m blissfully married to my Prince Charming, but I have dozens of male friends who are single and quality, so keep your eyes open. There are still good ones out there! 😀
Before I saw the options, i limited myself to picking my top 2. I was going with Friedrich and Asher (i love all your books, but C&C and Life Reader are my favorite!) but lucky me, they’re the same option! (I guess I really like pranksters) So, as my second pick I went with Stil. Love him too 🙂
I know you’ve got a long list of books to write but I can’t wait for you to get to Life Reader!! I read that book 4x in a row cause I just couldnt get enough of it! 🙂
Virtual fist bump! Friedrich and Asher rank among my favorites too! (The prankster types are quite possibly the most fun to write.) Also, I’m thrilled you like Life Reader so much. I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s my secret favorite as I adore libraries and worked in several. 🙂
I have discovered a flaw in your system… THERE IS NO ALL OF THE ABOVE! How do you expect me to just pick one?!
You can pick more than one, just not all of them! I’m trying to be cruel here and see what kind of characters people are most interested in. It’s pretty flooring to watch how fast the ranks can change, though. The strong-silent types were in fourth place yesterday, and today they lead by a pretty large margin!
My favourites would have to be Merlin, I think he is my ultimate hero. Closely followed by Colonel Frederick.
I like them because they let the main character grow & breath. They let her make mistakes but they don’t lord it over her, they encourage her & make her feel special.
You write really good heroes. I could live with the two I chose lol.
I gotta ask, do you base your characters on people you know or have met?
Oohhh I love Friedrich too! Merlin is so funny to write because he’s so sure of himself, but he’s secretly a dork. I love the different facets of his personality!
As for basing characters off people, usually I borrow aspects of a person’s personality, and some quotes or saying. The only character I have ever patterned roughly 85% off an actual friend is Captain Arion of Red Rope of Fate. This is partially why I’m waffling a bit on a return to that world. He insists Arion should fight a dragon.
Yes! Arion was good too. I’ll have to read that one again too lol. That was a good world, your friend is right.
Hi. IT CAME!!!! My book arrived magicly through the night. I have assignments due. Oh well they can wait. Can’t wait to see what happens next. Thankyou. Xx
Well, I guess I’m like you, Kitty. I am endlessly fascinated by the complex mixes of personalities that exist, and I know I would get bored with only one kind of hero personality. That’s why it’s tough for me to find fiction that I enjoy! I really DON’T like the popular disturbed-and-aloof-and-possibly-abusive alpha male that is so prevalent these days. My incredible real life Prince Charming is the prefect blend (for me!) of all your hero types, with the most emphasis on earnest/sweet and prankster/deviant. My aunt perfectly described him as “Kinda superhero, kinda villain.”
Ooohhh that is a perfect description! I agree with you about the total alpha male thing. I enjoy it if they are strong, and even a bit possessive, but a lot of novels have male heroes that are pretty much emotionally abusive, which I do NOT like. My thought is any guy I wouldn’t want my sisters to date is not a good choice to write about.
I like that mindset! You do a really nice job of finding balance with your characters. I love that your characters have flaws (and growth), but that you handle it in a clean way so that I can recommend these books to young friends!
I voted for three, as well! I really like loyal flirts, like Devin, because you get all the fun, but you know who they come home to. Pranksters are also great, because they can balance a steadier partner, with more fun and laughter. Then there’s the sarcastic type… That’s how I am, and I can’t resist someone that you can bounce riffs back and forth with!
Pranksters are probably my favorite to write because I love humor, and their presence alone assures it! That being said, the sarcastic types can also be hysterical, as can the sweet/earnest type. (Especially when they’re paired up with a less emotional girl, like Stil and Gemma!)
I love them all, but probably couldn’t stand living 24/7 with some of them. 🙂 So I went with three – earnest and sweet being my top favorite, followed by strong and silent and pranksters/deviants (I think in-between would be nice). It’s neat how similar heros end up with very different heroines – and it works well.
Although I didn’t pick his category, I would love to read a book on Benjimir – he had potential. I was glad he got what he justly deserved, but I felt so sorry for him too! His love for Princess Yvrea seemed real, though misdirected. I would totally buy a book about him. Please?
I laughed quite hard at your observation of being with them 24/7. I’m pretty sure I would strangle Devin and possibly Severin before the end of the first day.
I’m glad to hear you like Prince Benjimir! He’s the most sympathetic villain I have written so far–I felt quite bad for him when I was typing up the ending, and I do have a planned arc for him. For the record, I plan to re-visit the world of Red Rope of Fate–which would give you a lot more information on Benjimir and what happens to him–but I don’t imagine I’ll be able to do that for a while. 🙁
Hi Kitty, This will be difficult, wow, in my case I think I will have to vote like 6 times… I mean each type of character has its own quirks, that in their story works… But as you are our favorite author we will do our best to help!!
Question since I’m immerse in Arthur lore right now, what type of character would Merlin be? and Lancelot (even if we hate him)… just curious ..
Bye
I would put Merlin square in the “Sarcastic and opinionated” camp (He’s actually listed there with Aysel) and Lancelot would probably be a combination of Flirt and Bad Boy. ;D Thanks for voting!
I just realized today is National Donut Day. Talk about the BEST DAY EVER! Donuts & discussing characters–it doesn’t get any better than this!