Romancing the Darkness

As a child, my imagination was constantly running wild as far back as I can remember. I recall playing the videogame, The Legend of Zelda, back when I was six, and thinking that I could make it better. My best friend Travis and I would reenact the game.  I, of course, was the main character and protagonist. However, playing imaginary games and stories wasn’t enough for me. I still recall the games we played, my friends forgot about them the next day. I had grand adventures with my action figures, but that still didn’t stick.

Then I started creating my own comic strips. The very first comic I drew was a variation of Sonic the Hedgehog. From there, I created my own line of superheroes and super villains, making my own set of trading cards to reference from, taking inspiration from Marvel. Of course, I had to create a hero after myself: I named him Zero. Zero saved the world more times than I can count, and the stories weren’t half bad. I cherish those stories the most. They forged my mind and tamed my imagination, making me the artist I am today.

As I grew, so did the stories I wrote. When I was in the sixth grade, I wrote a short comedic story about being in a spaceship, trapped with Brad Pit’s character from Interview with a Vampire, and Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels characters from Dumb and Dumber…I have no idea how it came to fruition, but it made my class laugh in an uproar. From there, as I progressed through school, I spent my years in high school writing an epic fan fiction that combined the universes from six or seven anime cartoons. That was my first full length novel. I had to be the hero in the story even though no one has ever read it except me. During high school, I drew inspiration from video games and books. My favorite author is Steven King. For reading assignments in school, I always chose his books. It got to the point where my teacher forced me to find another author.

However, I got sick of getting inspiration from other things and people I could never be. Only now have I figured out I only needed inspiration from one person, and that was me. It was time for me to stop pretending to be a hero and become one. Romancing the Darkness is my life; my heart and soul are in this. I took my life and wrapped it into this grand fantasy world I have had since my childhood. For once, I want to show everyone what happens when they see the world through my eyes, filtered by my imagination.