Hi, my name is Onaya3 (hi, Onaya3) and the last time that I wrote was approximately 12 hours, 16 minutes and 33 seconds ago. If I don’t write, I start to shake. My heart races a million miles an hour and my breathing becomes shallow which medical professionals call hyperventilating and I may experience dizziness. Funnily enough these symptoms mirror what is also called an ‘anxiety attack’ however to me, I find it hard to differentiate the two.
I guess what I wanted to share with you are my passions as well as my obsessions which comes out in my writing. I like to write about science fiction, the supernatural and of course, romance. I learned to categorize my books under these headings when I began to post my work online.
My first book ‘Circulate’ was about time travelers who moved through time by a physiological ability to morph into beings of light. So far what is known to mankind, only light can move through time. Naturally my imagination tweaked, “what if there were humans who could move through time by turning into light?”
Ghosts can appear to be made of light and in a sense, they’re traveling through time. Their biological bodies have decomposed but humans are still seeing them centuries later. So what if there were humans who could in a sense, turn themselves into ghosts to phase through time? Hence my warped imagination when ‘bing!’ and spewed forth the idea of Circulators.
I used to be a huge Vampire fan. When I was seven years old our teacher let us write about whatever we wanted in an exercise book. Years later, I found out she pulled my Mum and Dad aside one particular Parent & Teacher night to say she thought I showed great potential, it’s just that she was concerned I always wrote about Vampires. When my teacher asked me to try another subject; I wrote a story about a trip to the Zoo… and the supernatural quality about this Zoo was after dark its animals turned into Vampires.
I think it was December 2007 that I read Stephenie Meyer’s book ‘Twilight’. I checked out her website where she cleverly posted the first chapter online and after reading it? The very next day I bought the book. Then something strange happened… I found myself crying out, “ditch the Vamp and go for the Werewolf!” I did a complete turnaround from being a Vampire’s ‘cheerleader’ to cheering for the Werewolves instead. Why go for something cold and dead, when you can have something hot and panting?
After one too many glasses of red wine and looking over my paranormal DVD collection, my mind went ‘bing!’ once more. Rather than just the Werewolves depicted in the Stephenie Meyer universe; what about the types depicted in ‘Underworld’, or ‘The X-Files’, ‘Howling’, or in ‘Supernatural’? What if there were simply different breeds of Werewolves in the world? Hell, humans differ culturally and physically depending on the geography so why wouldn’t a supernatural creature do too?
My character Elisha Baker who’s a Circulator, has always had a fascination for the supernatural and she began SSIT – Supernatural, Scientific, Investigative Team – with her friend Xavier Bell when the two met at Cambridge University. They investigated ghost lights surrounding stone circles, haunted houses, reincarnation, ESP and then after looking into Vampires, they stumbled upon Werewolves.
However the two by no means view their work through the same pair of glasses. To quote Xavier when editing one of his partner’s reports on an investigation;
“You are not critiquing ‘Wuthering Heights’ here. We are not doing a literary examination of when Kathy’s ghost appears at the window!” Xavier shook his head. “Look, take out, ‘extraordinary’, and put in ‘unusual’.”
“But that sounds so… boring. It doesn’t fully describe what it was like to see those phantom lights!” I argued back.
“Alright. We’ll keep ‘extraordinary’. But ‘fantastical’ has to go.” He put his foot down.
“But…” I started.
“There is no way in hell can we lodge a legitimate scientific report to our financial backers who happen to be one of the most reknown scientific companies in the world, with the word, ‘fantastical’ in it!” Xavier exclaimed.
“Yes we can!”
“No we can’t!”
“Look, how about I delete the whole smegging thing and then you write it up!” I snapped.
Xavier took my laptop off me and read through it thoroughly. Then he paused, and looked up with this incredulous look on his face. He looked at me as if I were mad.
“‘We felt truly privileged on this night to witness such a spectacular event’?”
“What’s wrong with that?!” I said exasperated.
“We’re scientists! Not sports commentators on World Cup Soccer!” he cracked up laughing.
I was lucky enough to meet my long-time pen pal Maryann when she came to Sydney. When I took her sightseeing, we walked through the Botanic Gardens. There I took a photo of a display by the pyramid greenhouse which was spelt out by plants; ‘SEX + DEATH’. I thought this summed up Werewolves perfectly and in particular, Declan Sabre. Allow me to introduce you to somebody who is turning into one of my most popular characters.
Declan was at one stage, the last of the European Werewolves. Aside from European Vampires hunting his breed almost to extinction for their strength and regenerative capabilities; he didn’t like it when his kind kidnapped his missus. Bianca Sabre nee Wisetail is the first female Lokoti Werewolf; in a world where female Werewolves are as rare as a winning ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. She is a contrast, both the beginning and the end as she is also called ‘The Last Circulator’.
Werewolves and Vampires are members of the Shape Shifter family since they change from human to other, with their ever-present bloodlust. As some have been trained to hunt animal to spare human life, others haven’t. It’s a battle not to become murderers and indulge in their constant hunger.
The meshing of Shape Shifters with Circulators comes up halfway through my Circulate Series. The way that I write is a collection of random scenes and when they reach a certain number; I collate them into order. But I swear, in Ancient Greece when they postulated that our creativity comes from the Muses? I think they must have got confused with schizophrenia. My characters’ constant chatter keeps me from feeling bored however they also can be too distracting. I experience writers block when just like in ‘Get Smart’ the cone of silence comes down and I can’t hear my characters anymore.
Please excuse me for my pages of rambling. I can’t write a series in linear order and I feel like I have to explain myself. When a person asks; “how’s your writing going?” “Really well, thanks.” “Have you finished book two yet?” “Er…” “What about book three?” “No, but I had this idea on the train home last night and I just had to write it…” It’s usually about this time the person rolls their eyes and shakes their head in a manner that says, ‘hopeless’.
