Secrets and Deceit on the Great South Wall

Sometimes, when I finish a book, when the drafting, correcting and editing are done, and I can write The End in the certain belief that I have given it my best shot, I find it difficult to pinpoint the original idea that acted as my catalyst for beginning my story. This was not the case with Deceptions.

That seed was sown one night when I was commissioned by a daily newspaper to do a series of features on night life in Dublin City. I was working as a journalist at the time and the idea of writing a novel was nothing more than a quiet ambition. One of the features I wrote concerned homeless people. I spent the night on the streets with young men and women who had run away from home for various reasons. It was an extremely sad experience to meet so many young people with no homes and little hope. I did one interview on the South Wall, an industrial area in Dublin's docklands. It has a nearby pier overlooking Dublin Bay which is a popular place for walkers. On that night it was dark and desolate. When I returned to my car, having interviewed a young man who lived in a make-shift cement shelter, I noticed the dimmed headlights of a car in the car park. A second car arrived. A man emerged from one and a woman from the other, and they embraced before walking into the shadows. I wisely left them to their own devices but as I drove away I wondered why they had chosen to meet in such an isolated, secret location. I assumed they were having an affair. A story began to form in my mind. A hit-and-run accident as one of them drove off. The victim a homeless person, someone on the edge of society. What would be the consequences? Would anyone really care. And, even if they got away with it, what would it do to their relationship? This image of a couple embracing formed the spine of Deceptions when I began to write it sometime later. Even though the novel developed its own creative momentum, that sense of intrigue, secrecy and deceit stayed at the forefront of my mind and created a cast of characters who answered those questions for me.