In elementary school I started using whatever I could to act out elaborate story lines: Star Wars figures, six penny nails, my sister’s vast array of stuffed animals or the family pets that weren’t too happy with the deal, by the way.. I’d lock myself in my room and have grand adventures of murder and fantasy. It wasn’t until my ninth grade year that I started putting these ideas to paper and describing with prose what I had been acting out with toys. I became lost in the writing.