Oneal Walters has carved out one of the most unique niches in contemporary writing: the psychological thriller-in-verse. In a landscape saturated with genre blends, his work stands apart: lean, emotional, cinematic, and startlingly human. With three published titles (Frozen Stare, The Age Begins, and The Empty Couple), and a growing serialized universe unfolding through The Blue Snowsuit, he’s building a brand that merges poetry with psychological suspense in ways readers rarely see.
Based in Canada, Oneal Walters writes stories driven by emotional intensity, moral complexity, and endings that linger. Influenced by psychological thrillers, character-driven narratives, and high-impact twists, he is the kind of author who forces readers to confront the darker corners of the human condition—while also delivering gripping, page-turning momentum.
In this WriteStats Author Interview, we explore his beginnings, his craft, his challenges, and why his unique approach to storytelling continues to evolve.
The Origins of a Thriller-in-Verse Author
When asked how his writing journey began, Oneal Walters offered one of the most memorable stories we’ve heard in this series. He shares that he had “two beginnings as a writer,” both powerful but dramatically different.
The first began in elementary school. He wrote a story about monsters attacking a village and illustrated it with unsettling details.
“The teacher was alarmed, called my parents in, and I walked away believing writing was ‘bad,’ so I stopped creating stories altogether.”
But the second beginning—years later—became the one that stuck.
In Grade 11, during an English class he had been skipping, he suddenly found himself needing to write a poem. What he created shocked the room.
“I wrote an original piece about a woman in a hospital… her husband gets excited about inheriting her assets. The class erupted with laughter and shock. That reaction woke something up in me.”
That moment pulled him back into storytelling, shaping the dark humor, emotional subtext, and psychological nuance that would later define his entire writing voice.
The Influences Behind Oneal Walters’ Psychological Depth
When discussing the stories that influence him most, Oneal Walters focuses on endings, specifically those that land with emotional or psychological force. “I’m drawn to stories with psychological depth and impactful endings,“ he explains.
His references paint a clear picture of his DNA as a writer:
- Television: The You Series, especially the volatile dynamic between Joe and Love.
- Film: The Sixth Sense for its twist; later replaced by Avengers: Infinity War for Thanos’s morally complex perspective.
- Books: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden and The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose.
These influences highlight a fascination with internal conflict, moral ambiguity, and characters who pursue love, survival, or peace in ways that challenge audiences.
This is exactly what makes Oneal Walters so distinct: he writes thrillers where the tension doesn’t just come from danger, it comes from people.
Oneal Walters’ focus on emotional intensity and psychological tension aligns with patterns we’ve explored at WriteStats. In our feature, “Why Readers Cry, Laugh, and Re-Read: The Brain Science Behind Emotional Stories,” we found that readers remember stories with strong emotional spikes far more vividly. Walters’ verse-driven thriller style creates those exact moments; quick hits of tension, sharp reveals, and tightly packed emotional beats that stay with readers long after the final line.
A Writing Process Built on Emotion, Precision, and Versatility
Oneal Walters doesn’t write to fill pages; he writes to expose emotional truths.
“My motivation comes from telling new stories and expanding existing ones,” he says. “I’m drawn to placing characters in the right—or sometimes the wrong—moment, then watching how they respond.”
To craft his thriller-in-verse style, he blends digital tools with old-school planning:
- HP laptop for drafting
- WordCounter.net to track progress
- QuillBot for grammar
- A mechanical pencil + eraser for scene planning
It’s a hybrid approach that mirrors his hybrid genre.
His reading habits—about six books a year—allow him to stay engaged with the thriller market without drowning in outside voices.
Oneal Walters on Publishing: Independence, Strategy, and Creative Control
When it comes to publishing, Oneal Walters chose independence with intention.
He selects platforms based on “reliability, distribution reach, and ease of use,” ultimately landing on Amazon for its ability to support his creative control and global reach.
And while many authors juggle freelancers across multiple platforms, Walters built a streamlined pipeline on Fiverr.
“I used Fiverr for everything, cover design, formatting, back-cover descriptions, editing, beta reading, and even advertising.”
But perhaps the most striking decision?
He publishes under Redtail Turtle Publishing, a brand he created himself.
“Building my own imprint has given me complete creative control and the ability to shape my books and my brand exactly the way I envisioned them.”
This independence aligns with a growing trend among authors who want ownership over every part of their writing identity, especially those experimenting with unconventional formats like thriller-verse.
Challenges, Mindset, and the Reality of Author Life
Like many modern authors, Oneal Walters does not rely on writing as his sole income, at least not yet. “Writing is one of several income streams for me,” he says, noting that he’s gradually expanding through books, serialized work, and upcoming projects.
His biggest challenge is one almost every indie author recognizes:
“Balancing writing, marketing, and publicity… Each requires a different skill set, and you have to know when to switch hats.”
His solution?
Protect creativity first. Promote later.
It’s a strategy many writers can learn from, especially those overwhelmed by the nonstop pressure of author branding culture.
Oneal Walters on AI in Publishing
Unlike many writers divided over AI, Oneal Walters approaches the tools with nuance and practicality.
“I rely on my own voice and vision for the creative side,” he emphasizes. But when it comes to analytics and workflow, he’s comfortable leveraging AI. “They support the publishing workflow, but the heart of the storytelling always comes from me.”
This positions him at an intersection many authors are now exploring: human-driven creativity supported by digital intelligence.
The Legacy Oneal Walters Hopes to Leave
This may be the most defining statement of who he is as an author:
“I want my legacy to be stories that pierce. Stories that make people feel something they didn’t expect.”
He hopes to shift the perception of what poetry can be when merged with narrative, and how thriller stories can explore the human condition in ways both cinematic and intimate.
This reinforces the keyphrase Oneal Walters as not just a writer, but a storyteller driven by emotional honesty and form-bending experimentation.
What’s Next for Oneal Walters: The Chosen Series
Coming in 2026, readers can expect an ambitious new project: The Chosen Series on The Blue Snowsuit.
“It’s a psychological thriller-in-verse that follows characters pushed into impossible situations,” Walters says, describing it as episodic, tense, and emotionally layered, exactly what readers have come to expect from him.
This series represents the next evolution of his brand, serial fiction, hybrid form, and thriller storytelling distilled into poetry.
Why Readers Should Watch Oneal Walters Closely
Between his unconventional form, his emotionally charged style, and his willingness to embrace both independence and innovation, Oneal Walters stands out in today’s publishing landscape.
He isn’t just writing thrillers.
He isn’t just writing poems.
He’s writing cinematic verse stories that challenge what storytelling can be.
And as the boundaries of genre continue to blur, authors like him, experimental, character-driven, psychologically attuned, are shaping a fascinating new direction for indie publishing.
Oneal Walters is not just an author to read.
He’s an author to study.
