Dr. Eric Haseltine

I took this long novel writing class, which I had to produce a novel.

And the teacher says, the number one thing you have to do is create a character that the reader instantly cares about and put them in trouble so they care about what happens and want to turn the page.

And that's absolutely what we do.

But she says, you have to put texture in there, the gritty feel of reality to make it authentic.

And so things I learned in the intelligence world, I put in there that I could.

For example...

I had to carry a weapon, right?

And so I had to qualify on the range and I had to shoot three or four times to keep my scores up a week, right?

And so I'm over at CIA and this case officer, hardcore, what you'd think of as a spy, he goes, Eric, that's bullshit.

You're going down range.

I mean, I was going to Iraq and I had to carry an M4 and a Beretta.

And he said, don't use any of that.

He said, two things.

The first time you shoot for real, because you've shot on the range,

You don't hear it and you hear it and you're going to be shocked at the moment.

You most need to have your senses with you.

So you need to shoot without your hearing so that you're not shocked the first time you hear it.

He said, that's the real world.

He said, the second thing is this business of a Weber stance and lining up the rear sight.

He said, no, here's what you do.