When I first began to write, my goal was to entertain my stuffed animals that I’d gathered around my Holly Hobbie rocking chair. I’d make little picture books, usually with crayons, about a three-legged dog with some growth sticking out from his body, because for some reason I couldn’t make a fourth leg properly. My stories would usually be about a girl losing her dog, how she would go out looking for him, how miserable she was without him, what the dog was looking for - usually another furry friend, how lonely he got, and then the happy reunion when the girl and dog found one another again.

Now, the funny thing is - some thirty years later I haven’t strayed too far from that theme in my writing. The dog has just been replaced by a man *snicker snicker* and he is still flawed. Only that growth is something more exciting. But the flaw is important because it’s what makes my character(s) tick. Somewhere along the way I’ve never lost that joy of making imaginary people go through something grueling, or funny, or thought provoking, or painful in order for them to find out that they do indeed belong together.

Now, my characters sometimes all ready know each other, and other times it’s fate or destiny that brings them together - an unusual circumstance. Some sort of element that draws them to one another. Of course there is sex - but it has meaning too.

I’ve traded crayons for a keyboard, and my reader audience is much wider and can actually give me feedback, but I still write for me. My characters are flawed - sometimes the woman is stronger, sometimes the man, but usually they are equals…it just depends on the story itself. There are obstacles they each must face - both alone and together. Sex is of course a new factor - and brings with it all new kinds of issues, problems, and obstacles - along with some good fun stuff thrown in there. Even the heat level and foreplay becomes an important aspect of the story because it mirrors the characters themselves.

But at the end of the day, or book really - they’ve come to understand something very important. And that something is valuable to them, and gives them clarity. They realize there is more to them because they are together. That denying their feelings is somehow denying a piece of themselves. And that sharing those little bits of themselves - those pieces of their soul - was worthwhile because of who they shared it with.

And to think my writing career started with a three-legged dog.

~Ann Cory
www.anncory.com