The creator of the Sex and the City characters plans to develop another TV series about an independent woman.

Candace Bushnell, whose novel Sex and the City inspired the HBO series of the same name, says she's talked with ABC about beginning a series, possibly a prime-time soap, based on her latest novel, Trading Up.

"It has the makings of a soap: a beautiful model, a socialite millionaire and a rock star," Bushnell said.

Trading Up is about Janey Wilcox, a lingerie model who's determined to succeed in her career by taking short cuts even though she'd be better off just working hard, Bushnell says.

Bushnell, speaking in a phone interview, was getting ready to board a plane for Dallas, part of her 10-city tour to promote her latest novel.

Despite a frantic schedule, Bushnell sounded energetic as she talked about Trading Up and Sex and the City, which began as a column Bushnell wrote for the New York Observer. Bushnell turned Sex and the City into a novel, and Darren Star (Beverly Hills 90210) and HBO bought the rights for TV. Bushnell became one of the producers.

Trading Up continues Bushnell's tradition of writing about independent women but takes a different path.

"It really makes you think about the kind of choices you make in your life," she said. "Janey thinks and does all the things that all of us would love to do and never did."

But the character comes up against the double standard. "She has an arrogance that would be acceptable in a man," Bushnell said.

Bushnell challenged such double standards in Sex and the City.

"I think it showed women who were doing what they wanted to do. The show was about women vs. society," she said. "It showed independent women who came up against expectations society had about women.

"Samantha (Jones) broke the mold," she said, referring to the outspoken character Kim Cattrall played in the HBO series.

"Carrie was my alter ego," she said. Sarah Jessica Parker played Carrie Bradshaw, a New York City columnist.

"When I started the column in 1994, people really did think there was something wrong with single women in their 30s who had never been married," Bushnell said. "(The column, book and TV show) have had an enormous impact on people and their perceptions of women."

Sex and the City wrapped up its six-season run in February, but reruns are showing on TBS. The re-editing of the series for basic cable raises the question of whether the series will lose its punch.

But Bushnell says she thinks nothing is lost in the way HBO re-edited the series. Bushnell, who was born in 1958 in Glastonbury, Conn., has lived in New York since she was 19 and found that her experiences with Studio 54 and the city's lifestyle provided good material for her column and book. She's married to ballet dancer Charles Askegard.