The Beginnings of Ilo

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When I was in grade school, I loved playing with Barbie Dolls and my Spiderman play-set. I hated writing like nobody's business, but I loved to read. Books, dolls, Spiderman and dinosaurs were my thing.

And then a few days before Christmas, my friend gave me a gift bag with a little present inside. I thought it was some kind of toy, and hoped with all my might that it wasn't clothes. The kids in my neighborhood loved getting clothes and shoes for Christmas. Bizarre to this day.

I pulled out the present while I was in the car, and realized that it was a tiny painting. It was shimmering in the streetlights. What in the world was this? I had never received art as a gift before. When I got home, I pulled out the present in bright light. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I have never seen its equal since.

Something happened inside me that day. It was like a spear of light sliced straight through me, and my imagination burst from its confines. At that day, the planet of Ilo, where "Pariahs" takes place, was born. I explored every inch of it for years and years, finding the races, the lands, the wars, the monsters, the magic, and the stories.

In high school, I filled in one of those chain e-mails, where you have to fill out a survey about yourself and e-mail your answers to your friends. One of the questions was, "What are you going to do in the future?" I answered, "I'm going to make my own planet." They thought I was insane. I was being quite serious, but I had no clue how true it was. Oh, and by the way, I still love dinosaurs, so they came to Ilo with me.


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