2019 Most Wanted Hero Poll Results

The 2019 Most Wanted Hero (Arch Type) poll wrapped up several weeks ago, so it’s time to talk about the results. I thought I didn’t really have any expectations about how it would go, but somehow I still ended up surprised!

First of all, yes you could vote for a few different choices, but overall there were a lot more votes cast that last year: in 2018 there were 2,400 votes placed and in 2019 there were almost 5,400 votes! So to anyone who participated this year for the first time, welcome!

Another way I was surprised was by how close most of the categories were. In 2018 the Villain Turned Good guy choice won by a landslide.

Take a look at how the Top 10 ranked this time:

1. Dangerous, but with a great heart – 396

2. Sherlock or Macgyver type genius – 378

3. Rival to the Heroine – 351

4. Villain Turned Good Guy – 308

5. Quiet / Strong / Gentle Giant / Introvert – 262

6. Genuinely Kind / Steady Good Guy – 257

7. Indiana Jones / Rick O’Connel from the Mummy – 235

8. Reluctant Hero – 225

9. Guy who hides his real self behind humor/jokes – 212

10. Best Friend / Guy Next Door – 207

The top 2 categories were so close to each other! And so many of the others were so close to each other too!

I host this poll every year because it’s really fun to talk about all the different kinds of heroes out there, and hear from you regarding the kind of heroes you like. But the poll also helps me decide what types of book projects to work on.

For example, in 2018 when Villain Turned Good Guy won by a wide margin it helped me decide to move forward with the idea I already had for a sequel to Red Rope of Fate featuring a new couple where the hero was a villain in the first book. (It’s called Royal Magic if you haven’t tried it yet.) I wasn’t sure how the redeemed villain, Prince Benjimir, would be received, so if that arch type hadn’t won the poll I probably would have put off the idea even longer. So a big thanks to everyone who voted for that last year and welcomed the book, Royal Magic, with open arms!

At this time I don’t have any heroes planned that would match the “dangerous, but with a great heart” arch type, but it’s something I’ll keep in mind for future series. I also take into account the results of the poll when I am planning some side characters, including the huge cast of my Second Age of Retha series. So don’t worry if your idea didn’t get a lot of votes, you still might see a character like that in one of my future books!

However, I am happy to announce that book 3 in the Elves of Lessa series, which is coming later in 2019, will feature a hero who is a book worm and a bit of a Sherlock/Macgyver type. For those of you who have read the series, the hero will be Crown Prince Arvel, who ironically is the brother of the “villain turned good guy” from book 2. 🙂 I just got the cover art back from the illustrator so I’m super pumped to work on it, but I need to stay focused on Angelique for now!

One final note, a few of my other heroes who are close matches to the Top 10 Arch Types list above insisted I point out to you that they already exist. (Though I think it would be fun to give these arch types another go, but the heroes are LOUD and insist on being heard, lol.)

Here they are:

1. Sherlock or Macgyver type genius – Merlin (King Arthur and Her Knights)

2. Villain Turned Good Guy – Farrin (Snow Queen), Benjimir (Royal Magic)

3. Quiet / Strong / Gentle Giant / Introvert – Fritz (Snow White), Arion (Red Rope of Fate), Isaia (Sleeping Beauty), Solus Miles (Second Age of Retha)

4. Genuinely Kind / Steady Good Guy – Alexsei (Swan Lake), Callan (Little Selkie)

5. Guy who hides his real self behind humor/jokes – Devin (The Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center)

As you can see, even if I use the same arch type, the characters can still look drastically different. (Farrin and Benjimir are perfect examples of this. Farrin is 90% honor, where as Benjimir is about 90% scheming.)

Thanks for reading, Champions, and a special extra thank you for voting!

2019 Most Wanted Hero Poll

*Ding* *Ding* Time for Round 2 of my Annual Hero Polls! The Most Wanted Hero Poll!

For those of you Champions who may be new, every year I hold a poll in two stages. The first is to crown the top voted heroes from my K. M. Shea and A. M. Sohma books. This year Merlin managed to maintain his title as last year’s winner – click here for the poll results. The second stage is to collect YOUR suggestions for the Most Wanted Hero and then vote on all of them!

The suggestions were collected in the comments of this blog post, and there were a lot of great suggestions this year! I did my best to condense them when possible since it’s not really practical to have a poll with 50+ choices. Who will win this year? YOU DECIDE!

Vote for your top five favorite hero archtypes below!

I can’t promise I will definitely write a hero that matches the winner of this poll, but I do take the results into consideration when planning my future books! In fact, after Villain Turned Good Guy won the 2018 poll I decided to move forward with writing Royal Magic as Benjimir, the hero of the story, is a reformed villain.

This poll closes April 5th, so you have until then to deliberate on your selection.

Special note: The poll order changes with every refresh, so look carefully to make sure you haven’t missed any of your favorites!

Take Our Poll

2019 Hero Poll Interview

The 2019 Hero Poll (Round 1) ended back in January – here’s the results if you need a reminder of who won. Last year, after the 2018 poll I decided to host an interview style “chat” with the heroes who placed the highest in the poll. For that interview I asked for questions you wanted to ask the heroes and it was a lot of fun going through the many suggestions and writing up with the guys would respond. Here’s where you can read the 2018 Hero Interview.

With everything going on with Angelique’s series I didn’t have time to ask for question submissions but I still wanted give you a thank you for participating! So here’s the 2019 Hero Interview, (In a PDF) although you’ll notice that we don’t really have a chance to go over many questions thanks to the mass chaos of so many characters talking at once. (Merlin was very proud to win twice in a row.)

I hope it’s as fun for you to read as it was for me to write! And another big thank you to everyone who voted in the poll and submitted ideas for the Most Wanted Hero. For those of you who are wondering, Round 2 of the Hero Poll – where you get to vote for the Most Wanted Hero (type) – is coming later in March So stay tuned!

On behalf of all my heroes, thank you for your loyalty and support! We couldn’t do it without you, Champions!