Guest Post by Author Marsha Casper Cook

Several years ago when I first started to write Virginia Templeton she was a character in a screenplay. It was very hard for me to swear or do sex scenes, but I kept trying hoping I would leave my fears aside when I was writing a scene. In a screenplay you don’t have to go into detail the same way you do in a novel so Virginia Templeton was just the character in the screenplay that would allow me to practice my writing skills. She would help me learn not to be afraid of allowing myself to write sexy characters or characters that swear and do bad things. It was no reflection on me; they were my characters thoughts and actions, not mine. I continued to write strong woman but without very much swearing and with very little sex. But in my mind whenever I needed to be strong in life situations I always referred to Virginia thinking what would Virginia do in this circumstance, and it usually worked because I got my strength from thinking about her .

When I began to do radio shows on Blog Talk Radio I had several shows on Romance Writing and loved having guests on the show that were romance writers because I thought they seemed to have so much fun writing their characters and writing romance scenes. I love to have fun and I thought I might try to write one, but I didn’t. Then I met Bethany Cross on my show when she came on to help me with the phone lines and the chat room. She had mentioned she wanted to write and I encouraged her to write a short story. She wrote her first short Erotic romance story and she became a Rebel Ink Press author. She writes really good stories with great characters and great descriptive sex scenes. She urged me to try and offered me help if I needed it.

I thought about it but still I didn’t think I could. The more I thought about it the closer I came to beginning my first sexy short story. I needed a character and so Virginia Templeton came to life in my first short story. I started to write her story and loved writing a woman like Virginia Templeton who was sexy, smart and very powerful. When I had trouble Bethany urged me to keep going and insisted that everyone would like the Diva I created.

I had no idea that when I finished the story readers would connect to her with such passion. They loved the fact that Virginia is such a powerful woman. Now when I sit down to write, I write for Virginia Templeton. She allows me to get to where I need to be and it’s been great.

I feel as a writer I have grown and my fears have disappeared and it’s a lot easier to swear and write very sexual scenes. Virginia Templeton has been so much fun to write because she’s such a complex interesting woman and she helps me connect to the reader.

The icing on the cake is readers love her strength and I am on my third story in the series and have enjoyed this experience more than any other.