We Chicks have created – and continue to create – a vast array of characters. We think we know them pretty well. But sometimes a character is more fun to write than we thought they’d be. Today we share the characters we didn’t expect to enjoy writing as much as we do.

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Lisa Q. Mathews

I think I knew as soon as Gladys Rumway appeared in Chapter One of CARDIAC ARREST in my Ladies Smythe & Westin series that she was a keeper. Glady was senior sleuth Dorothy Westin’s nemesis, first seen looming over Dorothy’s beach lounge chair in her flowered mu-mu with her mean-girl followers in tow. I based Gladys on a woman who ran the social scene at my parents’ assisted living community in Florida, and the words just wrote themselves. I’ve had so many readers tell me that Gladys was their favorite character, next to Dorothy. And they really admired Dorothy’s…restraint. But a character in my newest book-to-be, BURIED IN SHAMROCKS, really surprised me. Ian was my sleuth Kate Buckley’s moody musician ex who’d shown up from Ireland with his up-and-coming band–and his new fiancee–to play in Shamrock’s summer festival. It took me a while to realize that I was seeing the guy through Kate’s eyes, and not giving him much of a chance. Then when Ian’s fiancee ended up dead, Kate reluctantly stepped forward to help clear his name–and both she and I started to see Ian a little differently. He wasn’t loud and ..er, colorful like Gladys. But his character grew on me–and Kate–by the end.

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 Ellen Byron

Several characters come to mind when I think about this. I never expected Grand’Mere in the Cajun Country Mysteries to be so much fun that she supplanted Gaynell as my protagonist Maggie’s ear. Terri Fuoco in the Catering Hall Mysteries didn’t even exist in the outline of my first book in the series. I created her out of the blue when I decided Mia needed a nemesis. But Terri was such a blast to write that she became a frenemy to reluctant Mia. Another character I created sort of on the fly in the Golden Motel Mysteries was Dee’s dad, Sam Stern, a voice actor. I’ve basically moved him in with Dee because I love creating the different voices and characters he comes up with. And a character who becomes more fun to write in each Vintage Cookbook Mystery is Cookie Yanover. Again, I created a different character, Zellah, as Ricki’s bestie. But Cookie’s is so unabashedly herself that even if what she says or does occasionally makes the jaws of her friends drop, I have more fun writing her with each book in the series.

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Vickie Fee

I enjoy spending time with all of my secondary characters, who have recurring roles in the Liv & Di series. The most popular with readers seem to be Liv’s Mama, Sheriff Dave and Liv’s co-worker Winette, who often serves as a voice of common sense for Liv. A character who was created primarily as a pain in the neck for Liv became a favorite character that was fun to write for me. Edna Cleats, and her pampered cat Mr. Winky, Liv and Larry Joe’s neighbor ended up spending more time on the page because she made me laugh. Mrs. Cleats often reminds Liv how much she works behind the scenes at church. Apparently, Mrs. Cleats is satisfied, to head her tell it, as long as her good works remain known only to herself, Liv, and — God. As much as Liv and Larry Joe try to avoid her, they occasionally get pulled into being good neighbors. Mrs. Cleats insinuated herself so much into Liv’s life (and mine) that I ended up featuring her into the free reader’s short story I wrote about a cat show in Dixie. The story was e-mailed for free through my sadly seldom-sent author’s newsletter. If you missed out on Catnapped and would like to read it, the short story is available on my author’s website: vickiefee.com.

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Leslie Karst

When I killed off Sally Solari’s aunt Letta in chapter one of my very first mystery, Dying for a Taste, I didn’t plan for her to be much more than the victim whose murder Sally investigates. But then as I wrote the rest of the book and brought in Letta’s backstory—as well as Sally’s relationship with her—I fell more more in love with the character. Why the heck did I kill her off? I wondered with annoyance as I continued on with the work in progress. (To at least partly remedy this issue, I brought Letta back as a central—if dead—character in the last of the series, A Sense for Murder.)

I didn’t make that mistake again: no one I’ve killed off since in my books have I allowed myself to fall in love with like that.

In my new Orchid Isle series, Isaac is a character who started out merely as a way for Valerie and Kristen to have a pal who could act as a knowledgeable guide for them—and the reader—as they navigated their way around the Big Island of Hawai‘i. But Isaac turned out to be one of my favorite characters, with his youthful demeanor, employment of Hawaiian pidgin, and his combination of local Puna boy and scientific biology teacher. And it turns out that Issac’s a reader favorite, too, as he’s almost always the character that people want to ask me about.

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Jennifer Chow

Okay, I knew from the start that writing a magical bunny would be fun. And I figured Whiskers would make for a unique furry companion. Plus, I wanted to round out my cast of characters with a lovable pet. It was also great to drop in Chinese mythology as part of her background. But in my upcoming Magical Fortune Cookie book, Tell-Tale Treats, Whiskers does more than act cute and cuddly. Spoiler: She helps a lot in the investigation!

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Patricia Sargeant

Eriq Duster wasn’t supposed to exist. The bolo-tie-wearing, homicide detective days away from retirement showed up in Down to the Wire, the first book in my Touré Security Group trilogy. I’d planned to have two forty-something-year-old detectives in the story’s background. Then sixty-something-year-old Eriq muscled his way into the story’s first crime scene, tossed out the younger male detective, then wouldn’t leave. When I state he wouldn’t leave, I mean he stayed for the entire trilogy. He was only supposed to appear a couple of times in Down to the Wire, yet his presence got bigger with each book. By the third story, one of the serial killer’s victims was Eriq’s childhood friend. I loved writing that guy. I loved the way he cared about the other characters, and encouraged and supported the main protagonists. And I really loved his obsession with fishing.

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Readers: when has a character surprised you by being so much fun to read? Any favorites you want to share? Fellow authors, who’s one of your characters who’s more fun to write than you expected?