One night I was walking with a friend through Ersha Dao, an island community in Guangzhou China.
An idea for a story popped into my head and I posed it as a question to my Chinese friend Bill.
I said "The body of an American has been found on the promenade by the river. He was naked except for a pair of red briefs. How did he get there?"
Bill was shocked. He thought I had read about a real murder in a local newspaper. I rushed to explain that the idea had entered my mind from somewhere and I thought it might be a good start to a story. Even I wasn't sure at the time.
He told me that it was nothing to do with him and hailed a cab to take us to the BBR - the bar by the river - my favorite bar in the world. I'm Irish and well traveled so I know a thing or two about bars.
I'm sure many other writers have similar experiences. In my case, that spontaneous question begat many months of hard but enjoyable and ultimately rewarding work.
The result is my detective novel - Chingland - my answer to the question I posed.
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