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Research in Writing

July 19, 2017 by Jim Potter Leave a Comment

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·  Read and Travel  ·

Grand Coulee Dam, Washington

If you write fiction, have you created a place for your characters to hang out?

Writing is a combination of reading, travel, and imagination. Research and fact-checking are crucial.

If you’ve used a travel guide or app, then your readers depend on you, the writer, to be accurate with locations and recommendations.

If you write non-fiction, then consider the impact on others if they follow your advice about exotic tours, five-star restaurants, and comfortable lodging.

Writers have their preferences. You may wish to immerse yourself in a topic before writing your first word, or you may be the type who gushes pages of print before feeling the need to research your own script.

In my novel, Taking Back the Bullet, there’s a bank robbery by a person with schizoaffective disorder, but so far I haven’t robbed a bank or had a mental illness. My other main characters include a cop who is obese, American Indians from the Colville Confederated Tribes Reservation in Washington, a young girl with albinism (and stories of other girls with albinism living in Panama and Tanzania), and a military veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq.

Nespelem is part of the back story in my novel, Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery

Out of the colorful crew I created, some required considerable research before I could feel comfortable in their skin. For me, an ex-cop, it required less research to write about a bank robbery and it’s investigation than it did to comprehend the time and setting of the San Blas Islands, Panama, during the mid-twentieth century.

I write about the Kagera Region in Tanzania, but I’ve never traveled to Africa. However, I did spend a summer living in Guatemala, C.A. That exposure gave me valuable experience of living outside my culture, an asset when writing about the emotional journey of self-discovery.

I’m also not American Indian (no, I do not claim Cherokee Indian blood from a long-lost great-grandmother who was an Indian princess), but I’ve visited the grave of Nez Perce Chief Joseph on the Colville Reservation in Nespelem, WA; I’ve felt the mist on my face from the Grand Coulee Dam, and I’ve met good and grateful people in the Indian nation.

Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Indian, is buried in Nespelem, WA

I know I have a real story once my characters can converse. At that point, I feel like all I need to do is to stay out of their way; I’m the transcriber listening to dialogue.

“Joe,” Carl said, “I enjoy my visits, but I always forget how everything is so close together here. How do you do it? Don’t you miss the open space?”

“We still have the open sky. They can’t take that away,” replied Joe. “But hey, we don’t drive horse trailers to go shopping.”

Those very brief comments from two friends, give the reader a sense that the two go way back and have a variety of shared experiences. They’re American Indians: Joe Morningcloud, living in Prairie Grove, Kansas; and lifelong buddy and reservation resident, Carl Warrior.

Have you traveled in order to research a setting for your writing? Have you met someone who was larger-than-life and who became a character in your story? If so, and you’re willing to share, I’d like to hear from you.

Until next time, happy reading and writing!

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What People Are Saying

Sean McArdle

Retired police officer Potter’s novel centres on very disparate characters and through the tried and tested means of gradually introducing each one, builds a sense of anticipation about what is going to happen to them. This often used methodology is not easy to do well but is superbly handled by Potter who knows how to give enough detail to bring the characters to life, yet not too much so as to slow down the pace of the developing story. A climactic event affects the main characters and it is at this point Potter’s deep knowledge of people and police procedures really hits home; page by page we read how a seemingly simple, though terrible occurrence, can have huge consequences. To Potter’s credit the story does not have a completely conclusive or simplistic ending. Instead it leaves the reader thinking about how the events of a single minute can affect lives forever. I would whole heartedly recommend this book not as a crime novel or even as a novel about crime but as a beautiful and positive affirmation about what it is to be human and how ultimately it is relationships which matter more than events.

Sean McArdle, Winchester, England

5.0
2017-11-17T18:24:22-06:00

Sean McArdle, Winchester, England

Retired police officer Potter’s novel centres on very disparate characters and through the tried and tested means of gradually introducing each one, builds a sense of anticipation about what is going to happen to them. This often used methodology is not easy to do well but is superbly handled by Potter who knows how to give enough detail to bring the characters to life, yet not too much so as to slow down the pace of the developing story. A climactic event affects the main characters and it is at this point Potter’s deep knowledge of people and police procedures really hits home; page by page we read how a seemingly simple, though terrible occurrence, can have huge consequences. To Potter’s credit the story does not have a completely conclusive or simplistic ending. Instead it leaves the reader thinking about how the events of a single minute can affect lives forever. I would whole heartedly recommend this book not as a crime novel or even as a novel about crime but as a beautiful and positive affirmation about what it is to be human and how ultimately it is relationships which matter more than events.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/sean-mcardle/

Rebecca

Taking Back the Bullet is an emotional, yet captivating novel. Jim Potter does a superb job of intertwining each character and putting their individual identities on display. All law enforcement storylines are a true reflection of Potter’s years as a police officer because they are realistic and relatable. This is a book I highly recommend.

Rebecca from Proud Police Wife

5.0
2017-11-17T11:41:14-06:00

Rebecca from Proud Police Wife

Taking Back the Bullet is an emotional, yet captivating novel. Jim Potter does a superb job of intertwining each character and putting their individual identities on display. All law enforcement storylines are a true reflection of Potter’s years as a police officer because they are realistic and relatable. This is a book I highly recommend.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/rebecca/

Wynona Winn

Three main characters walk different paths but with the same destination – each coping with his or her self-discovery, self-identity, and self-realization. Much like their earlier counterparts – Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield – their journeys are often joyous, often tedious and often tragic.

Wynona Winn, PhD, retired school superintendent

5.0
2017-11-17T18:18:33-06:00

Wynona Winn, PhD, retired school superintendent

Three main characters walk different paths but with the same destination – each coping with his or her self-discovery, self-identity, and self-realization. Much like their earlier counterparts – Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield – their journeys are often joyous, often tedious and often tragic.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/wynona-winn/

Denise Low

Jim Potter is a cop, retired, but he brings deep understanding of this job to his novel Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery. This layered novel has literary dimensions as characters explore crisis situations. Congratulations to this fine writer for his debut novel.

Denise Low, author of Jackalope (Red Mountain Press)

5.0
2017-11-17T11:31:21-06:00

Denise Low, author of Jackalope (Red Mountain Press)

Jim Potter is a cop, retired, but he brings deep understanding of this job to his novel Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery. This layered novel has literary dimensions as characters explore crisis situations. Congratulations to this fine writer for his debut novel.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/denise-low/

Larry Kruckman

Jim Potter displays ethnographic skills in Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery, creating vivid scenes and fascinating characters. The Greeks had a word for subcultures and people’s behavior: ‘ethos,’ or ‘ways of being.’ In colorful, sometimes marvelous detail, this novel captures various people and settings . . . the ethos of rural Kansas: a jail, art fair, powwow, rehab center, courtroom, albinos, and even someone in the throes of postpartum depression. So detailed are the descriptions that they must be drawn from the author’s personal experience. Besides the artfully created characters such as the struggling jailer and husband Tom Jennings, local artist Jesse Thomas, and Native American Joe Morningcloud, there is a tight story line that grabs your attention and won’t let go. Human tensions, love, conflict, joys and sorrows are all there. Magically, all the many pieces come together in a final crescendo, giving hope that even when we find ourselves in big trouble we can survive. This is a novel I highly recommend!

Larry Kruckman, Anthropologist

5.0
2017-11-17T18:27:15-06:00

Larry Kruckman, Anthropologist

Jim Potter displays ethnographic skills in Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery, creating vivid scenes and fascinating characters. The Greeks had a word for subcultures and people’s behavior: ‘ethos,’ or ‘ways of being.’ In colorful, sometimes marvelous detail, this novel captures various people and settings . . . the ethos of rural Kansas: a jail, art fair, powwow, rehab center, courtroom, albinos, and even someone in the throes of postpartum depression. So detailed are the descriptions that they must be drawn from the author’s personal experience. Besides the artfully created characters such as the struggling jailer and husband Tom Jennings, local artist Jesse Thomas, and Native American Joe Morningcloud, there is a tight story line that grabs your attention and won’t let go. Human tensions, love, conflict, joys and sorrows are all there. Magically, all the many pieces come together in a final crescendo, giving hope that even when we find ourselves in big trouble we can survive. This is a novel I highly recommend!
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/larry-kruckman/

Deb Theis

Jim Potter has done it again! After his book, Cop in the Classroom: Lessons I’ve Learned, Tales I’ve Told, Jim has written another great work. In Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery, Jim Potter takes us on an insightful journey into the lives and relationships of numerous characters. Jim is such a talented storyteller that the reader quickly becomes immersed and has a ‘bonding experience’ with each of the characters, feeling their joy, fear, passion and pain. Jim’s novel speaks to the empowerment of persistence with the characters as they work through their trials. As a therapist, I appreciated the heartfelt struggles from each of the characters and their diversity. I also found value in the novel’s understanding of society’s misunderstanding of both mental health and other conditions in which people struggle. The novel contains rich exposure to various realities that many of us do not know about . . . but should. When I finished this captivating novel, I was wanting to read the sequel! It was an honor and a wonderful, mesmerizing experience reading this book. Congratulations, Jim!

Deb Theis, LSCSW, clinical therapist/hypnotherapist

5.0
2017-11-17T18:20:29-06:00

Deb Theis, LSCSW, clinical therapist/hypnotherapist

Jim Potter has done it again! After his book, Cop in the Classroom: Lessons I’ve Learned, Tales I’ve Told, Jim has written another great work. In Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery, Jim Potter takes us on an insightful journey into the lives and relationships of numerous characters. Jim is such a talented storyteller that the reader quickly becomes immersed and has a ‘bonding experience’ with each of the characters, feeling their joy, fear, passion and pain. Jim’s novel speaks to the empowerment of persistence with the characters as they work through their trials. As a therapist, I appreciated the heartfelt struggles from each of the characters and their diversity. I also found value in the novel’s understanding of society’s misunderstanding of both mental health and other conditions in which people struggle. The novel contains rich exposure to various realities that many of us do not know about . . . but should. When I finished this captivating novel, I was wanting to read the sequel! It was an honor and a wonderful, mesmerizing experience reading this book. Congratulations, Jim!
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/deb-theis/

John & Cindy Morrill

I enjoyed your book. When I am looking for a new read, I always read the first page, last page and choose a random page somewhere in the middle before I decide to buy it. You had me on all three pages. I also like reading a book where you can relate to the characters and the settings in which they live and work. It makes a story more realistic if you can say, I am familiar with the area; I know where that town is or I have traveled that street. It was easy to relate to the characters. In one way or another, I have met them all somewhere in my journeys

John & Cindy Morrill, 20 years Air Force retired, 17 years law enforcement

5.0
2017-11-17T18:14:56-06:00

John & Cindy Morrill, 20 years Air Force retired, 17 years law enforcement

I enjoyed your book. When I am looking for a new read, I always read the first page, last page and choose a random page somewhere in the middle before I decide to buy it. You had me on all three pages. I also like reading a book where you can relate to the characters and the settings in which they live and work. It makes a story more realistic if you can say, I am familiar with the area; I know where that town is or I have traveled that street. It was easy to relate to the characters. In one way or another, I have met them all somewhere in my journeys
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/john-cindy-morrill/

Morgan Penner

Taking Back the Bullet is a novel that provides the reader with a window into the world of law enforcement. As the novel unfolds, the reader is able to see how split-second decisions alter the lives of the main characters in the story. Taking Back the Bullet also explores how humanity is impacted by mental illness. One of my favorite quotes from Taking Back the Bullet is “We’re all just a critical moment from being disabled or mentally ill, and we don’t want to think about it.” The novel also provides the reader an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how mental illness impacts the individuals, their family, friends, and society. Taking Back the Bullet is a story of forgiveness and overcoming life’s struggles and tragedies.

Morgan Penner

5.0
2017-11-17T18:25:35-06:00

Morgan Penner

Taking Back the Bullet is a novel that provides the reader with a window into the world of law enforcement. As the novel unfolds, the reader is able to see how split-second decisions alter the lives of the main characters in the story. Taking Back the Bullet also explores how humanity is impacted by mental illness. One of my favorite quotes from Taking Back the Bullet is “We’re all just a critical moment from being disabled or mentally ill, and we don’t want to think about it.” The novel also provides the reader an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how mental illness impacts the individuals, their family, friends, and society. Taking Back the Bullet is a story of forgiveness and overcoming life’s struggles and tragedies.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/morgan-penner/

Dennis Perrin

Masterful storytelling, exquisite character development, so real as to HURT and HOPE, a real page turner. Begs for stage, screenwriters, and visual episodic development a.k.a. TV series . . . Thanks Jim Potter for telling it like it is AND providing us visions of how it could be. Well done!

Dennis Perrin, educator

5.0
2017-11-17T11:44:55-06:00

Dennis Perrin, educator

Masterful storytelling, exquisite character development, so real as to HURT and HOPE, a real page turner. Begs for stage, screenwriters, and visual episodic development a.k.a. TV series . . . Thanks Jim Potter for telling it like it is AND providing us visions of how it could be. Well done!
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/dennis-perrin/

Rebecca Schillaci

As a former law enforcement officer, I found the story very relatable as it details the life of a law enforcement officer and the struggles some face throughout their careers. . . Taking Back the Bullet is a journey of understanding, respect, and forgiveness . . .

Rebecca Schillaci

5.0
2017-11-17T11:46:40-06:00

Rebecca Schillaci

As a former law enforcement officer, I found the story very relatable as it details the life of a law enforcement officer and the struggles some face throughout their careers. . . Taking Back the Bullet is a journey of understanding, respect, and forgiveness . . .
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/rebecca-schillaci/

Sheryl Remar

I enjoyed the different stories of this book because Tom, James, and Suanna, the three main characters, represent in their own way the different struggles with themselves and society’s idea of what is normal.

Sheryl Remar

5.0
2017-11-17T11:47:46-06:00

Sheryl Remar

I enjoyed the different stories of this book because Tom, James, and Suanna, the three main characters, represent in their own way the different struggles with themselves and society’s idea of what is normal.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/sheryl-remar/

Jane Holzrichter

I finished it last night around midnight. What a great piece of work. It kept me intrigued all the way to the end.

Jane Holzrichter

5.0
2017-11-17T18:21:41-06:00

Jane Holzrichter

I finished it last night around midnight. What a great piece of work. It kept me intrigued all the way to the end.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/jane-holzrichter/

Steve Becker

I’m impressed. It was an excellent read. . . . I hope you continue with more projects in the future.

Steve Becker

5.0
2017-11-17T18:26:21-06:00

Steve Becker

I’m impressed. It was an excellent read. . . . I hope you continue with more projects in the future.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/steve-becker/

Diana Dester

Good story line, building the characters along the way. Great job!

Diana Dester

5.0
2017-11-17T18:19:23-06:00

Diana Dester

Good story line, building the characters along the way. Great job!
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/diana-dester/

Karleen Wilson-Moon

Terrific story relevant to today’s social issues . . . well written . . . likable characters . . . insightful perspective from an insider in law enforcement.

Karleen Wilson-Moon

5.0
2017-11-17T18:44:26-06:00

Karleen Wilson-Moon

Terrific story relevant to today’s social issues . . . well written . . . likable characters . . . insightful perspective from an insider in law enforcement.
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/karleen-wilson-moon/

Judy Hawk

. . . I was impressed with the Native American information as well as the depth of character development . . . .

Judy Hawk

5.0
2017-11-17T18:15:48-06:00

Judy Hawk

. . . I was impressed with the Native American information as well as the depth of character development . . . .
https://jimpotterauthor.com/testimonials/judy-hawk/
5
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