1 00:00:06,319 --> 00:00:08,400 Research for me is critical. The worlds 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:10,160 I write about are pretty complicated, 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:12,639 but they're also a definite thing. If I 4 00:00:12,639 --> 00:00:14,400 write about the military, I really can't 5 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:16,320 make stuff up. If I write about Secret 6 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,880 Service agents who pull wands out and 7 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:20,560 can fly, I mean, nobody's going to read 8 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,320 the book. So, I had to learn about those 9 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:23,760 things. As a writer, you have to take 10 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:25,519 off the novelist hat and you put on the 11 00:00:25,519 --> 00:00:28,000 journalist cap. Uh my my older sister 12 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:29,679 was a journalist and I used to go when I 13 00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:30,880 was in college I would go with her on 14 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:32,239 her beat and see how she interviewed 15 00:00:32,239 --> 00:00:33,520 people and gain their confidence and 16 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,160 trust and all that. So I go in and you 17 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:37,600 know I figure out how to get to people 18 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:39,360 that I need to know things about and um 19 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,120 I interview them become a journalist and 20 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:42,960 have conversations and learn a lot. I go 21 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,480 to the places that I write about because 22 00:00:44,480 --> 00:00:46,320 I want to see it firsthand, have a 23 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:48,000 visceral connection to it. I don't like 24 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,280 getting things third-hand from people 25 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,200 because that puts their opinions and 26 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:52,879 their biases into what I'm trying to 27 00:00:52,879 --> 00:00:55,120 find out. So, if you take the time to go 28 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:56,559 out and learn about this stuff 29 00:00:56,559 --> 00:00:59,520 firsthand, you will bring a depth and a 30 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,559 breath of u both plotting and writing to 31 00:01:02,559 --> 00:01:04,640 your pros that will lift you out of the 32 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:06,720 slush piles and actually enhance your 33 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:08,640 chances of getting picked up by a 34 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:10,640 publisher or an agent. Every book that 35 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:12,479 I've written, I've done a ton of 36 00:01:12,479 --> 00:01:14,159 research for all of them. And I think 37 00:01:14,159 --> 00:01:15,760 the books are far better because of it, 38 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,880 and I think yours will be, too. 39 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:27,119 I will say that research also can help 40 00:01:27,119 --> 00:01:29,600 you be a better writer in that it can 41 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,560 give you a a really emotional connection 42 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,240 to what you're writing about. I'll give 43 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:35,759 you an example. I'm not a gun 44 00:01:35,759 --> 00:01:39,119 aficionado. Um I don't own guns. I have 45 00:01:39,119 --> 00:01:41,360 fired pretty much every gun ever 46 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,280 manufactured just for the for purposes 47 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,040 of researching my knowledge. Everything 48 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,360 from a six shooter up to 50 cal machine 49 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,200 gun. And um when you write about firing 50 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,200 an MP5 uh which can fire 40 rounds in 51 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,119 about a second and a half. So you could 52 00:01:57,119 --> 00:01:59,040 kill 40 people in one and a half seconds 53 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,520 with this weapon. To feel it against 54 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,360 your chest as it thuds as it vibrates as 55 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:05,200 you're firing and see this awesome field 56 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,200 of just total annihilation in front of 57 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,119 you. 58 00:02:09,119 --> 00:02:11,360 Two emotions for me. One was like 59 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,440 exhilaration cuz you know, oh that's 60 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,640 kind of cool and utter. So when I have a 61 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:18,879 character who fires a weapon like that, 62 00:02:18,879 --> 00:02:21,520 having felt that myself, I can draw upon 63 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:23,280 my own personal experiences and better 64 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,120 describing it. If I had Wikipedi it, 65 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:26,480 they would have told me it had shot 40 66 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,360 rounds in a second and a half. Okay? You 67 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:30,879 know, but to see it actually the 68 00:02:30,879 --> 00:02:33,440 devastation it could do uh to someone, 69 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:35,519 it's just a different level. And that's 70 00:02:35,519 --> 00:02:37,200 the difference between writing a a book 71 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,360 that's sort of mediocre and that's 72 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,200 between uh as opposed to one that is 73 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,000 really dynamic and authentic and just 74 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,599 feels at a different emotional level. 75 00:02:45,599 --> 00:02:47,040 And that's what research can provide. 76 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:48,879 It's not just about finding out facts 77 00:02:48,879 --> 00:02:50,400 about stuff. It's about experiencing 78 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,400 something. 79 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:58,800 When I'm sort of firming up the idea 80 00:02:58,800 --> 00:02:59,920 that I'm going to write a particular 81 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:01,440 novel, let's say that I've got the 82 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,519 location, the venue sort of set. I'll 83 00:03:03,519 --> 00:03:04,720 give you an example of a book I wrote 84 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:06,239 called No Man's Land. It was a John 85 00:03:06,239 --> 00:03:08,640 Puller thriller and a lot of it was 86 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:10,080 going to be set at a place called Fort 87 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:11,840 Monroe in Virginia. It's in the Virginia 88 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,280 Beach, Newport News area of Virginia. 89 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,120 Okay, if I'm going to write about this 90 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:19,519 place, then I need to go there. And I 91 00:03:19,519 --> 00:03:22,400 drew up my battle plan. Um, I made a lot 92 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,959 of calls. I talked to people, uh, wrote 93 00:03:24,959 --> 00:03:27,200 letters, emails, and stuff. And so I 94 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,040 went and took a visit at Fort Monroe and 95 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,000 I took my recorder, I took my pad, my 96 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,239 steno pad and a lot of questions in my 97 00:03:34,239 --> 00:03:36,080 head. So I met with people and I spent 98 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:37,840 the whole day. We walked all over the 99 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:39,360 place. And Fort Monroe is no longer an 100 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:40,799 active military installation. It was 101 00:03:40,799 --> 00:03:42,720 decommissioned a while back. It almost 102 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:44,239 looks like a Hollywood backlot. They 103 00:03:44,239 --> 00:03:45,280 have these neighborhoods where people 104 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:46,959 live and the kids were raised and then 105 00:03:46,959 --> 00:03:48,720 you have the installation and all the 106 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:50,000 buildings the military and the army 107 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,640 would use. So, as I'm going around it, 108 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:54,159 I'm thinking to myself, okay, I need to 109 00:03:54,159 --> 00:03:55,760 learn about what's here so I can write 110 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:57,760 about it. How can I use that alley? How 111 00:03:57,760 --> 00:03:59,200 can I use that house? How can I use that 112 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:00,400 building? There was a big building 113 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:02,400 there, and I needed a building where 114 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,080 these scientific experiments are going 115 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:05,760 to be taking place to create the super 116 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:07,920 soldier way back. And there was a 117 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:09,360 building there that I ended up calling 118 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,319 building Q for various reasons. And it 119 00:04:12,319 --> 00:04:13,599 was based on the building that I saw 120 00:04:13,599 --> 00:04:15,280 when I was taking my tours. So, that's 121 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:16,799 your battle plan. And I call it a battle 122 00:04:16,799 --> 00:04:18,160 plan because it is. you have certain 123 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:19,600 goals that you want to accomplish when 124 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,519 you go and make visits. And it may be 125 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:22,880 that I go to this place and I think I'm 126 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:24,000 going to get everything done in a day 127 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,639 and I realize it's not happening. All of 128 00:04:26,639 --> 00:04:28,160 a sudden, I'm get intrigued and I go 129 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:29,600 down another pathway because something 130 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,360 of interest occurred that I didn't know 131 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,080 or expect was going to happen. So allow 132 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:35,680 yourself flexibility and latitude to 133 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,360 sort of adapt organically to what's on 134 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:39,199 the ground. You just have to. So I might 135 00:04:39,199 --> 00:04:41,040 come back to the place again, meet with 136 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,400 more people, walk through some other 137 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,720 places, get a more in-depth analysis and 138 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:46,160 views and glimpses of where I want to 139 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,240 be. I like to measure things out. I like 140 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,560 to pace things off. When I did a book 141 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,320 called Hell's Corner, a bomb was going 142 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:53,759 to go off in Lafayette Park right across 143 00:04:53,759 --> 00:04:55,280 from the White House. I went down there 144 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:57,440 with a flip phone camera and I'm pacing 145 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:59,440 off. I'm choreographing how this thing 146 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,120 is going to take place, measuring out 147 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:02,400 where everything is, where all the four 148 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:04,720 statues are located, who's in the park 149 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,400 usually, what are the pathways, where's 150 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,240 the Andrew Jackson statue, the White 151 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:09,919 House, Secret Service, and all that. 152 00:05:09,919 --> 00:05:11,520 It's almost like you're you're building 153 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,120 your plan for how this is going to work 154 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:14,880 because look, once you write it and you 155 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:16,400 call it Lafayette Park, it's in the book 156 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,080 forever and if people go down there and 157 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:19,199 they're going to look at this place and 158 00:05:19,199 --> 00:05:20,400 they're going to see if you got it right 159 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,479 or not. That's just the way it works. So 160 00:05:22,479 --> 00:05:24,479 for me, it allows me to be right in the 161 00:05:24,479 --> 00:05:26,400 facts, but it also allows me to think of 162 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:27,919 things for the plot that I use later in 163 00:05:27,919 --> 00:05:31,080 the story. 164 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:39,199 Locations are critical to a novel um 165 00:05:39,199 --> 00:05:42,000 because they can become a character in 166 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,680 the novel, particularly if it's an 167 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:45,680 extraordinary sort of place. And I don't 168 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:47,520 mean it has to be some exotic place. It 169 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:48,880 can be extraordinary in the fact that 170 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:50,560 it's a center of despair and 171 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,759 hopelessness. Um, when I was writing The 172 00:05:53,759 --> 00:05:56,240 Fallen, I very carefully picked the 173 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:57,759 location where I wanted it to be because 174 00:05:57,759 --> 00:06:00,479 I knew that this rust belt town in 175 00:06:00,479 --> 00:06:03,199 western Pennsylvania where people are, 176 00:06:03,199 --> 00:06:04,960 you know, dropping from opioid 177 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,360 addictions and there was really very 178 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,520 little hope in the place that permeated 179 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,000 throughout the plot and also the 180 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:13,280 characters because the characters 181 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:16,720 outlooks were bleak and some people in 182 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,000 the town this also car the locations can 183 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:21,520 drive motivations. 184 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,280 because the characters in the town were 185 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:24,639 some of them were doing certain things 186 00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:27,280 or were horrible and the motivation was 187 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:29,360 they have no hope. They living in a 188 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,360 place that's dead. So this is how they 189 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,759 get by. And that's how you can take a 190 00:06:33,759 --> 00:06:36,319 geographic location and turn it into 191 00:06:36,319 --> 00:06:39,280 something, you know, above just a place 192 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:41,199 you walk through or where their 193 00:06:41,199 --> 00:06:43,680 buildings are. it. Geographic locations 194 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,280 can imprint themselves upon people's 195 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:48,080 souls and psyches and emotions and make 196 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,000 them less caring, make them feel like 197 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:51,680 they would do things that they otherwise 198 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,800 would never contemplate doing. Um, so I 199 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:56,800 like putting my characters in places 200 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,520 like that because it just makes it I 201 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,080 think it makes it more monumental. You 202 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,400 know, the stakes seem to be higher. Uh, 203 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:06,400 the idea that anything could happen 204 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,720 because of where I set this. Um, you 205 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,199 know, I Zero Day, the first John Puller 206 00:07:11,199 --> 00:07:14,000 book was set in um rural West Virginia. 207 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,800 Um, and this place, and we'll we'll 208 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:18,960 learn about this in a little bit. I 209 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,120 picked that place for a very particular 210 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,120 reason. It was was of paramount 211 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:24,560 importance to the plot, but I also 212 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,400 picked it because it was a big coal 213 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,360 mining town. And I know coal mining very 214 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:30,960 well. Two of my uncles were coal miners. 215 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,440 Both died in the mines. And I know how 216 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,080 hard, arduous, dangerous that life is. 217 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,080 But the fact that, you know, this was a 218 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,080 coal mining town was also critical to 219 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,240 the plot. And so when you're picking 220 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,080 geographical locations, don't just don't 221 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,319 pick it because ah I'll just throw a you 222 00:07:46,319 --> 00:07:49,280 know a dart at a at a map. Uh pick it 223 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:51,440 because you could realize the potential 224 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:53,759 of that geographic location also rising 225 00:07:53,759 --> 00:07:58,120 to the level of a character in the book. 226 00:08:01,759 --> 00:08:03,280 I never served in the military. My dad 227 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:04,879 was in the Navy. All my uncles served in 228 00:08:04,879 --> 00:08:06,639 the various armed forces. So when I 229 00:08:06,639 --> 00:08:07,919 decided to write this book about a 230 00:08:07,919 --> 00:08:09,440 military protagonist, I needed to 231 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,639 immerse myself in that world. Um, one 232 00:08:12,639 --> 00:08:14,160 because I thought it would be really 233 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:15,280 interesting. I didn't know a lot about 234 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:17,919 the army. And two, it was a way of 235 00:08:17,919 --> 00:08:19,360 showing respect. If I'm going to write 236 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:20,560 about somebody who serves in the 237 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:21,759 military, I need to know about this 238 00:08:21,759 --> 00:08:24,080 world. So I did a lot of research. I 239 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:25,599 went down to Fort Banning in Georgia. I 240 00:08:25,599 --> 00:08:26,800 spent three days down there getting my 241 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,240 butt kicked from one end of the base to 242 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,240 the other. I interviewed dozens of 243 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:31,840 people, everybody from privates all the 244 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:33,360 way up to the two star who commanded 245 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,120 Fort Benning. Um, did lots of 246 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:36,479 interviews, did as much as I could, 247 00:08:36,479 --> 00:08:38,640 sniping and parachute jumping and Hum 248 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,039 rollover tests and the army physical 249 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:43,039 fitness training that almost killed me 250 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:45,920 and firing all these weapons 251 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:47,519 just so I could write a better book, a 252 00:08:47,519 --> 00:08:49,920 more authentic book. So, this is Zero 253 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:53,120 Day. This is about 400 or so pages. And 254 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,320 these are just the military research 255 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,360 binders that I did to read through, 256 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,839 marked up, and sort of digested so that 257 00:09:01,839 --> 00:09:04,160 I could write a better book. And this is 258 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:05,760 just just the military component. Forget 259 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:06,959 about all the other stuff that was in 260 00:09:06,959 --> 00:09:09,040 there. Now, there is a section here that 261 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,040 I'm going to read to you that deals with 262 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:15,120 nuclear weaponry. And this binder 263 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,720 is my nuke binder. So, this is all the 264 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:20,000 stuff that I had to read through to 265 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:21,600 understand nuclear weapons. And it's 266 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:23,839 complicated stuff. And the section I'm 267 00:09:23,839 --> 00:09:25,279 going to read to you is about two and a 268 00:09:25,279 --> 00:09:27,120 half pages long in this book. Two and a 269 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,760 half pages versus this. So I had to 270 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,160 distill all of this down to those pages. 271 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:33,760 And it took a lot of time and a lot of 272 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,200 effort, but was well worth it because 273 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,120 the last thing I wanted to do was near 274 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:38,880 the end of the book lose a reader in a 275 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,880 technical morass of stuff that they had 276 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,279 no interest in. 277 00:09:45,279 --> 00:09:46,880 I'm going to set the scene up for you. 278 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:48,720 Now, this is near the end of the book. 279 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:52,160 John Puller um is in a concrete bunker 280 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,160 that the United States Army left in the 281 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:55,360 middle of this small town in West 282 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,080 Virginia um where they had a research 283 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,240 facility into nuclear weaponry uh back 284 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,320 in the 60s and instead of taking all the 285 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,720 bad stuff with them, the army just 286 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:06,480 concrete bunkered over it and left it 287 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,040 there. So John Puller is inside this 288 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,839 bunker uh with a local sheriff Samantha 289 00:10:11,839 --> 00:10:16,160 Cole and there is a plutonium based uh 290 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,160 nuclear tactical weapon inside this 291 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,560 bunker that has a timer uh that is going 292 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:23,839 to go off. My dilemma here was how do I 293 00:10:23,839 --> 00:10:25,519 present all this technical information 294 00:10:25,519 --> 00:10:26,880 and you will probably face this many 295 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:28,880 times in your writing career without 296 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,680 totally losing the audience. And here's 297 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:33,839 how I decided to do it. John Puller's 298 00:10:33,839 --> 00:10:35,120 brother, where I'd set this up in the 299 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:36,240 very beginning of the book. He's in 300 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,560 prison in Levvenworth. And I also set 301 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:41,120 this up early. He is a nuclear weapons 302 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:43,279 expert. So this is his whole life. Bobby 303 00:10:43,279 --> 00:10:45,279 Puller, Robert Puller, his brother, is 304 00:10:45,279 --> 00:10:48,160 going to walk his brother, the layman, 305 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,040 through this. What I'm actually doing is 306 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:53,120 I'm having the expert, walk the reader, 307 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,040 who's also the layman, through all this 308 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:56,560 really technical material. And I'm 309 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:59,600 trying to put in examples and analogies 310 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:01,839 and language in there that makes it not 311 00:11:01,839 --> 00:11:03,519 dumb down but simplify because look, 312 00:11:03,519 --> 00:11:05,440 we're not nuclear war experts. We're 313 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:07,200 just not. Most readers are not that way. 314 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:08,959 So this is how I had to approach it. But 315 00:11:08,959 --> 00:11:10,480 that's how I set the scene up. So I got 316 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:12,640 the expert and I got the layman because 317 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:14,720 really it's just you the reader, you the 318 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:16,320 writer that I'm talking to. So here's 319 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,360 the scene. 320 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,079 How do I turn this thing off, Bobby? 321 00:11:22,079 --> 00:11:24,560 John, you can't actually turn it off. 322 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,240 Then what the hell am I doing here? 323 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:28,000 Polar barked so loudly. The Cole jumped 324 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:29,920 and almost dropped her light. There's 325 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:31,440 really only one way to do it, Robert 326 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:33,360 said in a calm tone. We have to screw up 327 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:35,600 the detonation. The lenses are seamless 328 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:37,440 now, but if we throw off the timing of 329 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,160 the detonation, we can cause a fizzle. 330 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:42,240 So, how do I do that? We throw off the 331 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,160 detonation sequence by adding one of her 332 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,120 own. Puller looked up at Cole in dismay. 333 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:48,880 So, you're telling me that in order to 334 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,959 beat this thing, we have to detonate it? 335 00:11:50,959 --> 00:11:53,200 Is that what the hell you're telling me? 336 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,839 Pretty much. Yeah. said Robert. [ __ ] 337 00:11:55,839 --> 00:11:57,360 muttered Polar. That's really the only 338 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,920 way. If there's another way, I'd tell 339 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:01,920 you. How about if I just start whacking 340 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:04,320 stuff? Odds are real good you're dead, 341 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,079 and a mushroom cloud probably goes up 342 00:12:06,079 --> 00:12:08,160 over West Virginia. I should have let 343 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:09,680 the calvary come in here, chopper this 344 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:11,600 thing out, and drop it in the ocean. 345 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,120 They couldn't have done that in an hour. 346 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,200 In hindsight, it's 2020. Maybe they 347 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:16,320 Maybe they could have gotten in here 348 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:17,760 before it engaged, stopped the timer 349 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:19,279 from commencing, or dropped it in some 350 00:12:19,279 --> 00:12:22,639 deep hole. Again, hindsight. 351 00:12:22,639 --> 00:12:24,320 If this thing goes off, it's my fault, 352 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,200 Bobby. Two points, John. If that thing 353 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:29,920 goes off, you won't be around to care. 354 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,680 Second point, the person or persons who 355 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:32,959 built that thing are the responsible 356 00:12:32,959 --> 00:12:34,959 parties, not you. Now, how much time 357 00:12:34,959 --> 00:12:38,000 left? 57 and a half till doomsday. 358 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,680 Puller looked up at Cole and pointed to 359 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:41,279 the way they'd come in. He mouthed two 360 00:12:41,279 --> 00:12:44,240 words. Go. Now. She shook her head and 361 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:45,600 gave him a stubborn expression when he 362 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,440 pointed to the way out again. When he 363 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,120 did it a third time, she flipped him 364 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:51,360 off. John, you there? What's going on? 365 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,760 asked his brother. Nothing. Just a 366 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:55,839 tactical issue that's been resolved. 367 00:12:55,839 --> 00:12:58,079 Now, when you say fizzle, what exactly 368 00:12:58,079 --> 00:13:00,480 are we talking about? Maybe half a 369 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:01,920 kiloton yield, but that's just an 370 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:03,680 educated guess on my part. The concrete 371 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:05,120 dome should help contain most of the 372 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,720 blast. Half a kiloton, said Polar. 373 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,519 That's equal to 500 tons of TNT. You 374 00:13:11,519 --> 00:13:14,320 call that a fizzle? Hiroshima got hit 375 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,240 with a 13 kiloton yield and they only 376 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:18,639 used 60 kg of uranium. And of that, only 377 00:13:18,639 --> 00:13:21,040 600 mg actually reacted. That's about 378 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:23,680 the weight of a dime. I have no idea how 379 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:24,959 much plutonium they've gotten this 380 00:13:24,959 --> 00:13:26,160 sucker, but we have to plan for the 381 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,480 worst case scenario. There's no way it's 382 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,399 as small a yield as with Hiroshima. 383 00:13:30,399 --> 00:13:32,079 We're talking gun versus implosion 384 00:13:32,079 --> 00:13:34,639 method, uranium versus plutonium. To be 385 00:13:34,639 --> 00:13:36,240 safe, let's assume it's millions of tons 386 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:38,480 of TNT equivalent. That'll send that 387 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,160 concrete dome into orbit and spread 388 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:41,839 radiation over six states or more, and 389 00:13:41,839 --> 00:13:43,600 you could pretty much kiss West Virginia 390 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:45,600 goodbye. 391 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,240 Fresh sweat sprouted on Puller's face. 392 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,639 Okay, half a kiloton doesn't sound so 393 00:13:50,639 --> 00:13:52,720 bad now. So tell me how to make a 394 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,240 fizzle. 395 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,639 And that's how I distilled all this 396 00:13:56,639 --> 00:13:58,560 information in a binder into those two 397 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:01,199 pages of stuff. It would have been so 398 00:14:01,199 --> 00:14:03,040 easy for me to like cram more crap in 399 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,639 there. I could have talked about gun 400 00:14:04,639 --> 00:14:06,639 versus implosion for 40 pages. I found 401 00:14:06,639 --> 00:14:08,959 it fascinating. Uh but the reader 402 00:14:08,959 --> 00:14:10,959 doesn't need to know that. And you as a 403 00:14:10,959 --> 00:14:13,199 writer, you you if if you do anything 404 00:14:13,199 --> 00:14:14,720 else, if you do nothing else with what 405 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,880 I'm telling you in research, do this. 406 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,199 Leave almost all of it out. You will 407 00:14:19,199 --> 00:14:22,079 thank me later.