A guest post by AJ Devlin

I invited fellow Vancouver writer, AJ Devlin to tackle this week’s question. AJ has worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood, and he’s the author of the two-fisted Hammerhead Jed mystery-comedy series. If you haven’t checked out the series, then you’re in for a treat. 

Who has been or is your mentor in the writing community? How have they guided or helped your writing career?

What a thrill to be asked by Dietrich Kalteis – one of Canada’s finest authors and winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Novel – to contribute a guest post for CRIMINAL MINDS.

When I heard the topic for the post, I had an idea as to why Dietrich thought of me, as we have had several great conversations not only about the craft of storytelling but also writing and studying under mentors, which is a topic on which I am very fortunate to have experience.

During my senior year at Chapman University, when I was in the midst of earning my BFA in Screenwriting, by luck of the draw, I was placed in an Advanced Scriptwriting class taught by novelist and Academy Award nominated screenwriter Leonard Schrader (Kiss Of The Spider Woman, The Yakuza, Blue Collar). It didn’t take long for me to realize what an incredible opportunity I had on my hands, and as a result I began getting to class early, was the last student to leave, and took full advantage of Leonard’s office hours.

Office hours led to a one-on-one independent study screenwriting class the next semester and eventually co-writing screenplays during many late nights at the iconic 101 Coffee Shop, which was equidistant between Leonard’s Hollywood Hills home and the American Film Institute Conservatory — an amazing program in which I had enrolled to pursue an MFA and where Len had also accepted the position of Chair of the Screenwriting Department.

Paul and Leonard Schrader in the late 70s.

Whether it was taking classes with him or spending time together in grad school, collaborating on scripts outside of the AFI Conservatory, or simply catching a Lakers game and listening to stories about how much he loved basketball and occasionally spotted Magic Johnson around town, I was gifted many wonderful memories with Len while also learning about writing from such a witty, talented, and generous man.

It’s nearly impossible to limit the wisdom a brilliant mentor like Leonard shared with me, but there are two particular anecdotes I wanted to share that I have relied on while striving to carve out a career as a storyteller.

1. Mentors Are Everywhere

You don’t need to be enrolled in a writing program to find a mentor or learn from others. All you need is a desire to better your understanding of the craft of writing and the mindset to develop an awareness in order to see the value in everyone around you. 

Leonard studied directly under the great Kurt Vonnegut Jr. while earning his MFA at the prestigious Iowa Writers workshop, and his brother Paul is another cinematic legend from whom Len learned so much despite the fact his sibling was younger. However, when you spoke to Len, sometimes he’d surprise you with a tale about how he found a pearl of wisdom from an unlikely source or in the most unexpected of places.

I have benefited from this many times myself by simply taking the time to get to know people around me while on my own writer’s journey. From my Canadian Men’s Basketball Team Olympian father to my retired Vancouver Police Officer friend and Use of Force Expert Joel Johnston – we are all surrounded by folks that will gladly share their stories. Leonard used to say “writing isn’t about writing” but instead that “writing is about living” so if you haven’t garnered enough life experience then you needed to go out there and get it. It’s no coincidence that it took me nearly twenty years before I was able to break through as a professional writer, and rites of passage such as career ups and downs, marriage, fatherhood, and travel all cumulatively gave me the ability to hopefully infuse my stories with enough depth and heart that they resonate with readers.

2. Make It Read Like A Bullet

Lightning would strike twice for me when the manuscript for my first novel, Cobra Clutch, was accepted by my Edmonton-based publisher NeWest Press. Their stellar and savvy General Manager Matt Bowes immediately assigned me to work with brilliant editor Merrill Distad, whose decades-long career in academics and writing — not to mention his cognizance of all things mystery, hard-boiled, and humour — made him the perfect fit for an aspiring author who had his heart set on channelling Mickey Spillane novels and Shane Black movies into a pulpy action-comedy debut about pro-wrestlers and kidnapped snakes in Vancouver.  

I would need several more blog posts to do justice to the many things I have learned (and continue to learn) from my editor, but what struck me first and foremost was the similarity in the dynamic that I had with Leonard whilst working with Merrill. And one lesson above all else was, in Leonard’s words, to make my writing “read like a bullet.” While this dovetails nicely with the nature of crime fiction, I realized this phrase applies to all writing. Leonard is often best known for adapting Manuel Puig’s dialogue-heavy novel (and essentially a one-room play about political prisoners in Brazil during a military dictatorship) into a screenplay, yet the ingenious way in which the conversations are structured makes the film fly by. This awareness of pacing was echoed by Merrill and is why to this day I start scenes as late as possible, end them as soon as I can, and remain mindful of the stakes for the protagonist and how they must increase during the rising action of a narrative.

Have the mindset of doing everything possible to keep the pages turning and the twists coming — all while engaging and trying to draw in your audience — is as successful a formula for storytelling that I’ve ever seen and something I try to emulate myself.

In the words of Len, it really is quite simple:

“Nobody wants to read about happy people doing happy things.” 

Great storytelling cannot occur without great conflict, and that is one universal experience everyone can relate to in some way. As a result, my suggestion is to take a look around and see where you can perhaps learn about different experiences from unique perspectives. If you still find yourself coming up short, get out there in the world and sniff them out like a bloodhound. The world can be an incredible place full of all kinds of colourful characters, and discovering or encountering a point of view different from your own can be as invigorating and inspiring as a breath of fresh air. —AJ Devlin