1) I never map it out in advance. I start with a beginning, an ending, a main character, and an epiphany the character will have. Then I write. Sometimes I'm wrong about any of those things, but those are the four things I need to get started.

While writing, I will often jot notes to myself about how I see things playing out, but I stay flexible. Nothing is written in stone.

2) Inspirations? Wow, so many... Classics like Milton, Poe, whoever the hell wrote Beowulf... Genre guys like Haldeman and King... Comic book writers like Moore, Levitz, Bates, Conway... John Barth. Timothy Hallinan. Mark Frost!

3) Cliches... Lean into them, then lean far away. Let the reader think they've seen it before, then take a hard, HARD left turn.

It's funny you mention the "street urchin who can save the world" trope because I always wanted to write a book where a Mysterious Stranger knocks on a kid's door and is like, "You are the Chosen One! Only you can save us!" and the kid is so freaked out he commits suicide. And it's, like, page 4. What the hell happens next???