FOOTSCRAY author Anna Dusk has finally seen her first book in print, eight years after it was written.

The adult fairytale ‘In Human’ is a horror story about a 16-year-old girl who turns into a werewolf.

Written long before the Twilight series brought new life to werewolves, Ms Dusk had imagined herself into the character to write the story.

“It’s about finding the voice, and then I don’t have a lot of control – the character is driving the story,” she said.

Sometimes Ms Dusk can spend all day on one paragraph, and is astounded by what can happen.

“To see all the connections and how it links up – I didn’t do it consciously,” she said.

The story is based in her home state of Tasmania, where the teenager “starts killing people, but she’s okay with it, she loves it, it gives her power,” Ms Dusk said.

She is already working on a sequel, based on the protagonist of In Human, and thinks that all good things come in three.

While waiting for replies, and often rejections, from publishing houses, Ms Dusk decided to pick up her paints and illustrate the book.

“I wanted to see what the characters would look like. Painting is very different from writing, a lot easier to access,” Ms Dusk said.

She said that writing could be very isolated, which was one reason why it had taken her 10 years to complete her professional writing course at RMIT.

Ms Dusk has one final subject to complete this year – poetry, but has found the course great for networking.

She said the teachers don’t teach you what to write, but inspire and encourage the students.

“Rejections can be difficult … and a writer’s fear is having nothing to write about,” she said.

“It can be hard working in isolation; you are on your own so much as a writer.”

In Human will be launched at The Sun Bookshop, 10 Ballarat St, Yarraville, on Sunday 20 March at 2pm.