When a secondary character walks onto the stage I usually pair them off or kill them…and have been doing so since my first book, HeartMate. If you know an author, and they write series, you can usually pick out whose story might be coming next.

In my latest published book, Heart Quest, I introduced the hero and heroine in the book I’m writing now, Heart Dance (yes, I know, all these HEARTS!), and I DID bring them on stage because I wanted readers to get to know them. In that case, though the hero had been briefly mentioned, neither had been seen.

One of my secondary men, onstage since HeartMate, has been Tinne Holly. I’ve been torturing him for the last few books, and I plan to do his story after Heart Dance (Yes, he’s married. Yes, his HeartMate is married to someone else. I’m working on that part.)

I hadn’t planned on introducing his heroine, but letting her be a surprise, but as series threads do, I needed an additional challenge for my current heroine, Dufleur, and figured I could use Tinne’s HeartMate and her husband and set up that situation as well.

But I think, bottom line, readers prefer to see upcoming h/h before they have their own book, and writers may tend to like the surprise.

Anyway Lahsin has warily trod onto the stage.

Introducing characters earlier can give readers an emotional investment in the characters. This can lead to spin offs. Readers (as we all do) like to root for characters and see them develop, so having them in previous books (even if you’d prefer the surprise), is good.

What do you think?

May you enjoy all the characters you read about today.