What Makes A Popular Character Unforgettable?

[E.B.]

To be unforgettable to me, a character must have traits that are appealing in real life. Honor, integrity, and compassion are a few traits that draw me in. Physical strength and strength of heart are others. I enjoy a male character that will go above and beyond to care for his woman, and will let anyone know in uncertain terms that she belongs to him. I suppose it is the little things that matter, since there are many characters in books that meet my requirements.
I read books to get lost in another world, so I want something extraordinary in the story to make me care. Give me a hero with a splattering of sensitivity and I am eating out of your hand.
That said, I need something believable. A character who is too good to be true, petting every kitten in his way and kissing everyone's babies is not attractive to me. (shrug) I'm afraid I can't be more specific than that. I guess we all know it when we see it, hmm?

[Sonya]

When it comes to heroes, I'm not picky on looks - if we expect a variety in our heroines, I think it's fair to have a variety in the heroes, too!

The one thing I won't tolerate in a hero is misogyny. There's a lot of it going around in the New Adult genre these days, with heroes who sleep with hundreds of women and treat them dreadfully (and call them 'sluts' and 'skanks' and 'whores') and yet they change when they meet the heroine. I can't stand that, and it is a deal-breaker for me. Heroes should respect all women, not just their woman!

[Sonya]

E.B. wrote: "That said, I need something believable. A character who is too good to be true, petting every kitten in his way and kissing everyone's babies is not attractive to me."

I'm with you on that. I can't stand it when the main characters - male or female - are the ones who love babies (and the baddies can be identified because they don't). Things like that. If the characters are just collections of 'good' or 'bad' traits, then I don't think the author has done their job.

[Antoinette]

Humour, believability, redeemable values if it's a brooding character.

[Laurie: Almost Faemous]

Sonya Heaney wrote: "When it comes to heroes, I'm not picky on looks - if we expect a variety in our heroines, I think it's fair to have a variety in the heroes, too!

The one thing I won't tolerate in a hero is misogy..."
See this is one of the reasons I rarely read this genre, the characters are just so unrealistic. I don't want characters that are just politically correct, the world is filled with people who are politically correct. While I get what you're saying I find the guy with flaws (big or small) more interesting as a character than a nice guy.

[Laurie: Almost Faemous]

YA is absolutely horrible for this, I have 3 teens at home and have yet to see a YA book that protrayed teens realistically

[Laurie: Almost Faemous]

Sadly Dianne my creative writing is somewhere on par with my singing. I really really can't sing...lol.

[Jackie]

I don't know if this is exactly the same thing but I like vulnerability, especially in men.

I like it when that tipping point comes where the best characters (in my books that's the men) have that moment of doubt or they snap and the rage just comes rolling out.

I find that most attractive in a character, especially when I am writing one. It's like a crisis point in the book and the character could recover or sink further into despair. Of course in romance it is up to the heroine to 'man up' and drag her hero back from the edge before everything goes completely pear shaped.

It's a flaw that every good character needs somewhere in a book though.

[John]

Probably something that enables you to relate to that character, be it a flaw, emotion, outburst, viewpoint, where you find yourself going, 'Yeah, I know exactly where they are coming from'. My own preference is the gritty Detective stuff that gets you thinking about where the story is going, and a certain realism to the characters ticks my boxes.