during his time in new york southern had written a short story "about a girl in greenwich village who got involved with a hunchback because she was such a good samaritan" and this became the core of "candy", co-written with mason hoffenberg. on his return to paris in late 1956 southern showed the story to several people, including hoffenberg, who thought the character should have more adventures. southern encouraged hoffenberg to write one; this became the sequence where candy goes to the hospital to see dr. krankheit. the pair began alternately creating chapters, working together regularly on visits to tourrettes-sur-loup over the spring and summer of 1957. the book was introduced to publisher maurice girodias, probably by marilyn meeske, who, according to southern, thought girodias would be interested in it as a "dirty book".