Do Authors Play Favorites?

Hmmm… I mused… do authors play favorites? Do they have favorites among their own characters and is this impacted by the number of books they have written and their personal hero type preference? To answer these questions, I enlisted the help of five, fabulous writer friends…

Cherie Nicholls, author of 11 books, recently released Windborn on May 7^th, but she thinks Laney from her first book Leashed by a Wolf is still her favorite. Her favorite hero type is strong and protective, the kind of male who becomes unstoppable when they meet the right female. Sounds a lot like Heath, the hero in Leashed by a Wolf.

The author of around 80 books and short stories, Raven McAllan admits she always favors her current hero and heroine. She confesses a soft spot for Athol in the Dommissimma series just because he was so much fun to write and Molly Simpkins from A Most Unusual Mistress because it inspired the Miss Simpkins series. She writes hot characters – strong heroes and feisty heroines, her favorite type.

Alannah Harte modelled Rafe from The Best Part of Breaking Up, her first solo book, after a good friend she liked, but didn’t return her feelings. They remained friends and now Rafe has a special place in her heart.

The author of 54 books and counting, Doris O’Connor falls in love with each of her heroes as she writes them. If she had to pick an all-time favorite couple it would be Sven and Sylvia from her first book The Housewife and the Filmstar. She loves strong, possessive, dominant alphas and tortured bad boys… these types are often featured in her stories.

Jessica Stevens is the author of 2 books with her second book Behind the Makeup just released May 5^th. She told me she always falls for her main characters although Alana and Nick are especially special since they were part of her first solo publication.

There’s something about a ‘first’ of anything… A first kiss, a first love, and, apparently, a first book. Many of the authors I interviewed noted characters from their first books were still their favorites. It also appears favorite character types influence the characters written.

I’m no different from the rest. Gabe from my first book Dream Hunter, a strong, protective man who confidently knows what he wants, is my favorite, hands down.

I’m sure you’d find many of your favorite authors have a special place in their heart for their first characters and incorporate their favorite character types in their books.

Readers, do you have favorites? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!

Bios

Cherie Nicholls is an author of Paranormal Romance. By day she is an IT Manager and by night she whips up worlds where alpha men find their mates and people are always more than human.

Cherie was born and lives in London, UK and is a daughter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, aunt-in-law, great-aunt, and godmother in an ever growing family. She has a passion for shifter stories, most any sport and thimbles...don’t ask.  

http://www.cherienicholls.co.uk/

Raven McAllan lives in Scotland, along with her husband and their two cats—their children having flown the nest—surrounded by beautiful scenery, which inspires a lot of the settings in her books.

She is used to sharing her life with the occasional deer, red squirrel, and lost tourist, to say nothing of the scourge of Scotland—the midge.

Her very understanding, and long-suffering DH, is used to his questions unanswered, the dust bunnies greeting him as he walks through the door, and rescuing burned offerings from the Aga. (And passing her a glass of wine as she types furiously.)

http://www.ravenmcallan.com/

Alannah Harte grew up in the south of Ireland beside the sea. She still calls this beautiful part of the world home. Her background is in education. She loves drama and debating and has been successful in both. Her writing played second fiddle to these activities for a decade but in 2010 she took up the typewriter again.

http://alannahharte.blogspot.ie/

Glutton for punishment would be a good description for Doris O’Connor... at least that's what she hears on an almost daily basis when people find out that she has a brood of nine children, ranging from adult to toddler and lives happily in a far too small house, cluttered with children, pets, dust bunnies, and one very understanding and supportive husband. Domestic goddess she is not.

There is always something better to do after all, like working on the latest manuscript and trying not to scare the locals even more than usual by talking out loud to the voices in her head. Her characters tend to be pretty insistent to get their stories told, and you will find Doris burning the midnight oil on a regular basis. Only time to get any peace and quiet and besides, sleep is for wimps.

She likes to spin sensual, sassy, and sexy tales involving alpha heroes to die for, and heroines who give as good as they get. From contemporary to paranormal, BDSM to F/F, and Ménage, haunting love stories are guaranteed.

http://www.dorisoconnor.com/

Jessica Stevens was born in Northern Ireland and moved to London a few weeks after, where she grew up with her parents and siblings. As a child, she was always writing songs and poems, so it was only natural that Jessica should find her feet in writing Romance. Jessica now lives in Bedfordshire with her husband, their three children and their dog. Much of her working week is spent cooking and looking after their three small children and the family dog. At weekends, she tries to spend as much quality time with her family and can often be found roaming woods and other opened spaces, desperately trying to run off some of her boy's endless energy, much to the objection of her 'growing up way too fast' daughter.

http://www.jessicastevensauthor.com/