Sometimes you plan research, but you get more than you bargained for. But as a writer, any experience, pleasant or otherwise, can be put to good use.

I’ve just come back from a holiday in Eilat, Israel, where I dived every morning and edited in the afternoon. Since a section of the next novel, 88 North, occurs in the Red Sea, I could kid myself that I was doing research…

I’d originally intended the section to occur in Dahab, Egypt, just down the coast from Eilat, but things are a bit tense in this region at the moment, and I didn’t make it there. Still, I got to do a number of wreck dives, as well as being close to the desert where Nadia and her enemy Blue Fan are forced to make an uneasy alliance. It was good to be diving again, to see, hear and feel what it’s like down there. I didn’t dive too deep this time, only 30 metres, and no sharks…

Oddly enough, it was on the way back home, when I stopped overnight in Jerusalem, that something happened that will contribute to the book. I went to the Old City, and up to the Temple of the Mount, which includes four of the holiest sites in Judaism (the Wailing Wall), Islam (Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock) and Christianity (Church of the Holy Sepulchre), where I had a minor altercation with someone armed with a semi-automatic rifle. It’s a long time since I’ve been in

such a situation, but as you can imagine, you end up pretty alert, on the one hand maintaining eye contact, and on the other checking the position of that rifle and exactly where its muzzle is pointing. Politeness kind of kicks in as a survival mechanism…

The next day, my last, I went to the local markets and all was well again, and I could forget about it, and then fly home later that day, finishing the first main edit of 88 North on the plane. My little research adventure over. Or so I thought.

When I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport, pretty late, all the passengers had to wait for a small monorail to take us back to the main terminal building. I spotted three Chinese, also standing and waiting, and one of them was doing some tai chi moves. I went over to them, and we started comparing Tai Chi styles, mirroring each other. We got some strange looks from other passengers who gave us a wide berth. But the guy was really good, and although we just had a few minutes to practice together, it made me reflect on another of my characters from the Nadia series, called the Chef, who is a martial arts wizard.  

 

So, all in all, it was a good trip, with some bonus insights for the upcoming novel. Whilst I’m still revelling in the dives, and missing the daily regime of scuba-diving and writing, those few tense seconds on the Temple of the Mount, and the tai chi encounter at CDG airport, are going to stay with me for some time.