Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in Bridgeton, NJ. I had the good fortune of having many teachers who encouraged creativity and a love of writing. We had a lot of freedom with our writing assignments that I think is lacking in education today. It was at the high school library that I first discovered Stephen King. I checked out the library's copy of 'Salem's Lot. I remember thinking two things. First, this was the scariest thing I had ever come across. Second, I could do that.
When did you first start writing?
I started seriously writing when I was thirteen. I would write short horror stories to share with my friends and teachers. I'm pretty sure if a teenager today showed the types of stories I wrote to a teacher now, the poor kid would at best end up with detention and at worst end up medicated and labeled unstable. But thankfully my teachers all had a firm grasp of the difference between fantasy and reality and recognized fiction as fiction.
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