The creator of dark paranormal and 'kick-butt' heroine Riley Jenson, will be at Narre Warren library on Sunday to answer questions about what it takes to be a writer in the paranormal genre.

Arthur, who created the werewolf world of the Ripple Creek series and the dark world of her Circle of Desire series, started writing about werewolves in Lygon Street when paranormal wasn't the hot trend.

As she created those dark plots of fantasy, she was working at the MCG and later at Essendon Football Club, where she cooked for eight years.

"They were very inspirational, the Essendon boys," she says.

But werewolves were bubbling along in her imagination along with the threads of romance and action in the books.

Holding a full-time job and trying to finish her novels soon took its toll. "I actually ended up in hospital with stress trying to get my contracted books for Bantam done and my shift-work. I ended up in hospital for nine days with deadly blood pressure, so the cooking had to go.

"At the time it was a gamble as I had no idea that the books would take off."

Melbourne as a setting for her dark world of werewolves had been popular, she said.

"Lygon Street features heavily, but I've also set some stories in the suburbs, like Ferntree Gully.

She suggests that budding authors write what they are comfortable with.

"If publishers accept your book and if it's in urban fantasy you'll be writing that world for quite a while."

Keri Arthur will be talking from 3-4pm on Sunday at Narre Warren Library. Talks are free but to book, call 9704 7696.