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.

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.

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.

You exist in the minds of other people.

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.