Thomas Harris was a newspaper reporter. His boss made him come to work on New Years Day. Sitting there he decided he’d write a novel. He looked at the day’s headlines. The three biggest stories were about terrorists, Vietnam veterans, and the Super Bowl. His first novel, ‘Black Sunday’ was about a Vietnam veteran who decides to help terrorists set off a bomb at the Super Bowl.

A few years later he created Hannibal Lector

Also: “the writer’s barely disguised fetish” is a trope for a reason.