John has always been interested in words and the meanings behind the words. Maybe it was the family Scrabble games, where he found himself vying with academic parents and competing brothers for the perfect "triple word score", or John’s life-long passion for crossword puzzles. In any case it was not a surprise that John would eventually hit upon the unique idea of a visual pun, which he called a SCHIZONYM! John, in his own words, describes the genesis of this creative approach. "Once I noticed that some words became another word, when the first letter was removed; it was automatic for me to draw or illustrate the distinction. And then I did more of them to the point where they were an obvious collection. The word "schizonyms", relating to the word’s split personalities, applied easily." Viola!