I have always thought that my imagination and environment played a massive factor in my writing and storytelling. The world around me often became the beginning of something that existed only within my mind.

From there, characters are born, and I build them from something I call the “skeleton.” While I am out in the world, fear, emotion, laughter, happiness, and love all become pieces of that skeleton. I write down things I see, hear, feel, and imagine, sometimes without knowing what they will eventually become. A person I pass, a conversation I overhear, or a place that catches my attention can become another bone in the structure. Slowly, these pieces come together until I have the foundation of a character, a place, or even an entire story.

Later, when I sit down to write, I bring the skeleton to life. The organs become character and purpose, the nervous system becomes emotion, the veins become connections, the blood becomes conflict, the flesh becomes detail, the skin becomes my writing and style, the heart becomes meaning, and the mind becomes me, the writer.