Quote

Romantic heroes and heroines are a bit different from the sort of people we run into every day.

For me, the perfect romantic suspense hero has got to be tough on the outside but tender at his core. A take-charge kind of guy who has his own inner strength and a strong sense of right and wrong - which might not dovetail with the conventional wisdom. I mean, he might bend the law if he thinks the ends justify the means.

There's something really charming about a character that is fundamentally flawed and does some pretty despicable things, but yet you still kind of love him.

Both villains and heroes are a bit boring, really, unless they're flawed and broken somehow. If they're not flawed and broken, then clearly they need to be broken and made flawed. That's what an author does if he or she has any dignity.

It seems to me that most characters, in anything, are flawed in some way, just like most people. You look for the good in the flawed people and vice versa, and then try and make them appealing in some way.

The hero of a mainstream stand-alone novel can get by with things the hero of a sweet traditional category romance wouldn't dream of doing.

For any character, male or female, I think it's important to have... it's cliche to say a flawed character, but to really think about the good and the bad and make sure that both are present, and it doesn't just become a glossed over icon of perfection.

In my books, women often solve the problem. Even if the woman is not the hero, she's a strong character. She does change the plot. She'll often rescue the male character from some situation.

I think heroes who are not flawed are not believable.