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?"

That's always disappointing when you find a good story and you realize the person has died, because then it's difficult to report.

People are really stuck on their ideas about themselves.

You exist in the minds of other people.

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?"

Often my characters have some kind of idealism or grand belief that they're pursuing.