I'm always reading. And I keep a whole list of stories, often unusual stories. There are a hundred some-odd ideas on that list.
I am in communication with almost everybody I've done a story about. I have a fantasy that if I ever strike it rich, I'll have a big party and fly all of these people there, and they'll be roaming around the party - Billy Mitchell, Master Legend, Santa Tim, Rio DiAngelo, Mr. Romance circa 2007, and so on.
You exist in the minds of other people.
People are really stuck on their ideas about themselves.
I don't think that the people in my stories are lying to themselves. Well, some of them are - everybody is at some level. But there is something about how they all inhabit a narrative of their own making.
I was really struck by all these people who had committed suicide. There are videos of all of them talking about why they're so happy to shed their human existence and exit their "vehicles" and I thought, "Why is that?"
I don't know if any of the people perceive themselves as having been made fun of.
I've gotten used to spending more time with heavily narrative stories.
Sometimes you'll read something and think, "What is going on here? There must be more to this." The constraints of the news format didn't allow for more detail, or the writer didn't see it or just wasn't interested.
Sometimes, I'll read a news story and there will be one line about something else, and I'll find it interesting and look into it. That can often turn into an entire story on its own.
That's always disappointing when you find a good story and you realize the person has died, because then it's difficult to report.
Often my characters have some kind of idealism or grand belief that they're pursuing.
