Ah! To Be A Vixen Again!

Eileen Fulton is heading into her 40th year as Lisa Miller on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns, reports CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen. But now she is also the author of a romance novel, Soap Opera, that takes the reader behind the scenes.

"These are totally made-up characters," says Fulton. "There is nobody in this book whom I know."

Why did she want to write this book?

"Well, it's a romance," she replies. "I deal with romance every single day. You know, I wasn't very busy last summer on As the World Turns, and I wanted to create some characters. What better way than to sit down in the morning and write these characters, being that I wasn't on very much?"

At least two of her As the World Turns costars have commented affectionately on the book.

"I did recognize a few characters," says Martha Byrne, who plays Lily Snyder. "I have to be honest with you: She must have a lot of dirt that she could hide in this book. And there are probably some people out there who should be [running] for cover."

Ellen Dolan, who plays Margo Hughes, would welcome the fictional treatment by Fulton. "I would love to find myself between the pages," she says. "You know, she really paints delightful charactersÂ… There's not a mean bone in her."

In the book, Fulton makes clear that soap opera actors, like movie stars, often fall in love with one another. But they tend to stay together longer and more often than movie stars.

"Working together, you get to know one another," explains the actress. "Sometimes, though, when you fall in love on a soap opera with your leading man, you fall in love with the character. Then it's horrifying when you wake up the next morning and find out, 'Oh, no, you're another person'!"

After 40 years starring on a soap opera, what advice would she give a would-be soap actor? "You'd better know that you really want it," says Fulton. "You must want it with all your heart. Don't look at a soap opera as a stepping stone, because this could be your big rock."

Asked how she might change Lisa Miller, the character she plays, Fulton replies, "I would have her come back as the strong, wonderful villain and spunky girl she used to be instead of this nice little personÂ… A vixen! I want to cause trouble again."