When a new idea pops up while writing, I suggest pursuing it! The writing process is messy, really an organic process. So, you can save all your ideas in an ideas file or notebook/journal. Perhaps create a "mindmap" while brainstorming, or meditating about your book projects. Or, simply start writing and downloading your thoughts into a Word document so you don't lose the momentum behind a great idea or newfound insights.

Isaac Asimov, Blake Crouch, Stephen King, George Orwell, J.D. Salinger, Victor Hugo and more.

I was inspired by the Matrix films, The Truman Show film, and lots of research on quantum physics and simulation with Artificial Intelligence that led me to believe that we do live in an ancestor simulation, as our cells hold memories and our DNA is something of a storage system, with lots of information being downloaded to us by pure consciousness as well as our genetics. Unlike the theory the Matrix films propose, I honestly don't believe we are "battery power for technology". But, that technology plays into our reality somehow. My research over two years, while writing the book, concluded that ultimately we do create our own realities. While researching quantum mechanics, I came across a quantum scientist named Donald Hoffman. In his YouTube video, "cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman describes the challenges both for science and for spirituality in the move towards a scientific theory of consciousness. He shows the evidence that, in science's quest, mathematics has already begun to describe conscious experience. He spells out the preconceptions that will have to be reconsidered by scientists: the idea of third-person science, that space and time and objects are fundamental - and by nondualists: that scriptures and teachers can be sources of authority as well as inspiration. Science and spirituality working together, he says, can explore and understand consciousness." EPIC: The Game appeals to anyone who has ever wondered why they exist, which means it is designed for every young adult or adult to enjoy as a form of edutainment. But, it was written specifically for those who may wonder if we live in a Matrix, or some form of simulation, for the purpose of discovering who we are, why we exist, as well as why we were given talents at birth and in our life experiences that we were born to leverage or manifest.

The ending was a labor of love. I wrote an entire 900 page book that I simply scrapped because I didn't like it -- it wasn't mainstream, very niche. In the end, I couldn't decide between multiple versions of the end, so I wrote the story like a Create Your Own Adventure book, and included a special ending for EACH main character in the book and allowed the reader to select his or her favorite Epilogue.

When I experience writer's block, I simply sit at a screen and hover my hands over the keyboard. What happens is an unconscious set of thoughts gets transferred into my work. Sometimes, I look back, during editing, and delete what thoughts didn't gel with the book or subconsciously are incoherent -- rambling, I dare say! And continue with the best content, or the story characters in their dialogue take me in new directions.

Recursion by Blake Crouch!

More AI-related content. Book 2 is being written now and it continues the EPIC series. Also, a screenplay is in the works and it's being written for a TV show series. Book 1 contains 3 seasons worth of material for the TV show! More epic surprise endings to come!

Two years.

I have a habit of creating playlists in Amazon Music, Apple Music or Spotify according to moods. While writing, I always listen to a chill playlist. But, sometimes the lyrics in a song will imprint in what I'm writing as a feeling that comes to me when writing dialogue.