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

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 don't know if any of the people perceive themselves as having been made fun of.

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.

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.

You exist in the minds of other people.