How the Villain became the Author?

A common question I get when people find out i am a published writer is simply,

"How'd you get started?"

My common and surface level answer is just as simple.

"I've always been a storyteller, now I just put it down on paper."

The deeper and much more complex answer is as follows:

When i was young, i had a childhood friend. Just one? you might ask. To which i would say no, i had several, but only one that i spent any exuberant amount of time with.

While we have since parted ways, only interacting when one of us disagrees with the other politically on social media, to say his influence does not exist in these stories would be to egregious a lie for my conscience to bear.

While i find his political differences beyond reason, i am sure he feels the same about me. Still, i like to think that even in our vehement disagreements he still looks back as fondly as i do upon our shared childhood. I don't believe either of us dislikes the other because of our political beliefs, we just simply don't agree.

Dustin was my friend from kindergarten through senior year of high school. In that time we did what most boys do. We rode bikes around town, wrestled WWE style on his trampoline, created our own characters and storylines to follow, and played way too many videogames(IS there such a thing?)

Dustin also drew comics in our composition note books. When i decided i wanted to be a stronger character than he originally made me, i started doing the same. Eventually we agree that my character as a bad guy was equivalent to the almighty Prince Vegeta of Dragon Ball Z and his character was equivalent to Frieza, lord of the universe.

Neither of us was interested in playing the good guy.

These sagas went on for decades, paving the ground work for my creative spirit to flourish. While i would credit any and all of my current success to my wife and dear friend Christopher Hopper. The foundation they helped me build upon was laid in those school desks, side by side, playing the villain.