It’s strange where life takes you. C.J. Omololu wasn’t much of a writer when she was growing up. She didn’t keep journals and never really told stories. She was an insane reader though. “I’d go to our tiny little library and grab an armful of books to finish over a weekend,” she told Cracking the Cover. “I think that made all of the difference when it came time for me to write my own stories.”
Now the author of two books — “Dirty Little Secrets” and “Transcendence” — C.J.’s writing for her favorite audience: young adults. “I think I’m emotionally stunted at the age of 16,” C.J. quipped. “That’s just what seems to come out, plus it’s such an amazing, pivotal time in a life. Anything can happen.”
Seeing the world from that age level helps young readers relate. “I’d like to think that my books feel authentic,” C.J. said. “I have a houseful of teenagers most days, so I understand them as well as any adult can.”
“Transcendence,” C.J.’s second book, will be available in bookstores Tuesday. It’s the story of a young woman who finds out the visions she’s been having are actually flashbacks to previous lives. It’s quite a departure from C.J.’s debut novel, “Dirty Little Secrets,” which followed a teenage girl as she tried to deal with her hoarder mother.
“I cringe a little when people say they can’t wait for ‘Transcendence’ because they loved ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ because you’re right — they are totally different books,” C.J. said. “I write what comes to me, and a fun and romantic story about people who remember their past lives is what showed up. The one good thing is that because hoarding is a real condition, I was worried about getting the facts right with the first book. With reincarnation, nobody can come back and tell you that you got it wrong.”
Unless…
What if reincarnation is real? C.J.’s answer: Maybe.
“I got so involved in the philosophy behind the Akhet that I started thinking about it as if it were true,” C.J. said. “Like what I was going to do the next time around that I didn’t get a chance to do this time. Ever since the age of about 2 or 3, there has been a scene in my mind that I don’t think came from any movie or TV show. It’s pretty horrific, so I don’t want to go into the details, but it feels like it came from maybe the 14th or 15th century — little things like that keep me open to the possibility.”
Being open to that possibility is perhaps why “Transcendence” stands out from other books in its genre. “There’s no real ‘magic’ in ‘Transcendence’ – everything that happens is physiologically possible,” C.J. explained. “That made things difficult, but ultimately more interesting for me. As long as you suspend a disbelief in reincarnation, it could almost be a contemporary story. Plus, it’s not a story about lost loves that reconnect over and over in every lifetime – that’s been done.”
C.J. says she tried to end “Transcendence” with a hint of what was to come in the next book, which she is putting the finishing touches on right now. “Is it obnoxious to say that I completely love it? I hope not, because I really do,” she said. “It was so great to reconnect with my characters and get to know a few new ones as well. This is the first time I’ve done a sequel, and it was really fun.”
*C.J. took a lot of time and care answering Cracking the Cover’s questions. Read a complete transcript of her interview.
