Fiction author Diana Peterfreund visited several English classes today to discuss her books and her experience as a writer.

Peterfreund has written four books in the chick lit series “Secret Society Girl” and two in the teen fantasy series “Killer Unicorns.” Her version of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion,” titled “For Darkness Shows the Stars,” is set for release next June.

Peterfreund, who talked to several of English teacher Susan Buckingham’s classes, primarily discussed her “Killer Unicorn” series, which is based on a 16-year-old virgin and descendant of Alexander the Great who hunts unicorns in Rome, because it’s more geared toward teens. She extensively researched Rome and legends of unicorns from around the world while writing her books, which primarily include malevolent unicorns based on real legends.

“It got in my head that I wanted to write something about a 16-year-old, and one of the things I wanted to write about was sexual pressure,” she said. “Then when I was researching and I came across legends where virgins help hunt unicorns, I thought, ‘Well that fits in.’ So I just put it together.”

Peterfreund added that anyone aspiring to be a writer should persevere and write as much as possible despite setbacks. She wrote four novels that publishers rejected for various reasons before her first “Secret Society Girls” novel launched her career in 2006. Since then, she’s kept on writing and encourages others to do so as well.

“The nice thing about writing is that you can do it anywhere, anytime,” she said. “If you want to be an astronaut, you have to get a lot of training before they’ll give you a job at NASA. But if you want to be a writer, there is no barrier to entry. You just sit down with your computer or pen and notebook, and just go.”