As a reader, you are meant to fall in love with certain characters, and if you do, the writer has done her job well. But it’s one of the wonderful parts of creating fiction that you come to love some of your characters, and in entirely different ways than the reader.

I’ll tell you who my favorites are and why, and I’ve narrowed it down to three and one runner-up.

1. Valerian. No question, and no surprise. Valerian is a taotien, which is a kind of soul devouring demon. He is incredibly slick, charming, and totally in love with being an antihero. He’s a smart dresser, vain, well-spoken. Valerian is a character who’s been with me for a long time, so you could say we know each other well. Recently, he has enjoyed breaking the fourth wall, probably because it’s been a while since he got page time, and he is not at all happy with me. If you want to meet him (I advise you to do so from a safe distance,) A Taste of Magic (Fairview Chronicles #1) is the place to start. Watch out for him in A Midsummer Night’s Demon (Fairview Chronicles #3).
2. Maxim. Maxim is a vampire and vampire hunter who loves alliteration, Shakespeare, and riffing off Mother Goose, the latter he sometimes enjoys while he decapitates deserving dunces. I don’t know Maxim that well yet, but so far he has never failed to entertain me, and I can’t wait to write more of him. You can meet him and his alliterative asteism in The Hunter’s Bride (Dusk & Dawn #1).
3. Myrtis. Another vampire, Myrtis is one of the more mysterious characters. He is very old, and he tries to avoid bringing harm to anyone. He doesn’t force me to tell his story, in fact, he likes fading into the background, but I can’t leave him there; Myrtis is just too interesting, and I want to know more about him. You can read a little more about this mystery vampire in A Scnet of Longing (Fairview Chronicles #2).

Runner-up: The Afrit Queen. She’s the ruler of the underworld or hell. I think she’s reasonably good at it, but she gets herself in trouble (or cursed) sometimes, and also she was involved in starting the French Revolution, and if that doesn’t make one at least a runner-up, I don’t know what does. She makes a first, brief appearance in A Midsummer Night’s Demon (Fairview Chronicles #3).

What are your favorite characters? Share in the comments. If you ever fall in love with one of mine, I want to know about it, so tell me on Twitter or Facebook!