Chris asked Lawrence Wright:

With so much of your non-fiction writing taking place in the Islamic world, did it make writing your new novel easier -apart from the medical aspect? Did you base any of your characters in the novel on people you've met or researched from your non-fiction works?

Lawrence Wright Oh, yes, and you'll find that I draw quite a lot from my experience in the Middle East in this novel. For instance, there's a big scene in Mecca. After 9/11, when I was researching "The Looming Tower," I got a job at a newspaper in Jeddah, bin Laden's hometown. I was the mentor to some young reporters. One of my first tasks was to supervise our coverage of the hajj. I would never have written that scene without that experience.

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