From Mentor to Mentoree and Back: Part 2--by Reb MacRath
In Part 1, we survived the history of feuds and rivalries among writers, the literary minefield of conflicting egos and ambitions. Is it possible, we wondered, for even the strongest alliance to avoid ending in flames. Young Leverett Butts approached Richard Monaco, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, as a fan of the older author's Parsival series and entered into a creative relationship and partnership that lasted for over a decade. Today LB answers questions about the power of becoming both student and teacher. And the importance of choosing the right mentor.
1. First Models: All writers start with a model in mind—someone whose work deeply resonates with them. Many even attempt to emulate that writer before finding their own vision and voice. Who was your first model?
When I first seriously started writing, I was greatly inspired by John Irving and Robert Penn Warren. A lot of my earlier attempts at "literary" fiction draw deeply from those two writers. As I began to write more genre stuff, I found myself drawing on the satirical voice of Douglas Adams, understated sarcasm of Kurt Vonnegut and the cynicism of Joseph Heller for my narrative voice. Though I've gone on to develop my own narrative voice, these two influences, I believe, are still readily apparent in my current writing style. For plot, I drew on Neil Gaiman, especially his short fiction and his novels American Gods, and Neverwhere. And obviously, Richard Monaco's Parsival series was as much a model for Guns of the Waste Land as was Larry McMurtry, Thomas Malory, and the HBO series Deadwood.
2. The Invisible Jury: Given your eclectic reading tastes—ranging from Shakespeare and Robert Penn Warren to H. P. Lovecraft and noir—did any of these admired writers serve as moderators as you developed your four-volume epic? W. H. Auden envisioned an invisible jury of greats who judged his work; do you have a similar internal panel?
2. The Invisible Jury: Given your eclectic reading tastes—ranging from Shakespeare and Robert Penn Warren to H. P. Lovecraft and noir—did any of these admired writers serve as moderators as you developed your four-volume epic? W. H. Auden envisioned an invisible jury of greats who judged his work; do you have a similar internal panel?
Kind of? My "invisible jury" (or as I like to think of it my hypothetical audience) consists not of the authors themselves but the fans of those authors. I want my work to appeal to an audience as disparate as that. I'm not sure how successful I've been. But I'm also not sure how you could measure something like that.
3. Mentorship: In today’s evolving publishing landscape, a mentor can make a real difference when we've put in our own 10,000 hours. Robert Greene wrote: 'Choosing the right mentor is like being able to choose your own parents; the wrong choice is fatal.' Would you agree with that?
3. Mentorship: In today’s evolving publishing landscape, a mentor can make a real difference when we've put in our own 10,000 hours. Robert Greene wrote: 'Choosing the right mentor is like being able to choose your own parents; the wrong choice is fatal.' Would you agree with that?
Absolutely: I've had a few major mentors when it comes to my writing. Richard Monaco, obviously, has been my major mentor, kind of teaching me along the way how to write loosely (or as I think you have referred to it in a previous blog post, by the seat of my pants). He always told me not to hold too tight a leash on my characters and allow them to go in directions you didn't expect lest your plot feel too forced and contrived. A good example of this from Guns of the Waste Land is the appearance of the empty cabin with the cooking bacon Percy stumbles upon as he wanders the desert waste land in Book 1. I had no idea at the time that it would ever show up again, much less play as important a role as it does in the climax of the series.
The other has been T.E.D. Klein (whose collection of Lovecraftian/horror novellas, Dark Gods should be on everyone's reading list. It's a perfect blend of Lovecraftian horror and literary fiction. It reads as if John Updike decided to write Stephen King stories). He was the editor of Twilight Zone Magazine in the 1970's through most of the 1980's, but I was introduced to him through S.T. Joshi, the Lovecraft scholar, when I was writing my book on Lovecraft. We kind of hit it off immediately and he's been an honest critic of my work ever since. He doesn't shy away from telling me if something just doesn't work for him in my writing, but in a way that I never feel offended. You need that kind of honesty in a mentor, for sure.
Other mentors have been Brad Strickland, who is very encouraging for my current project: Good Night Sweet Prince, a retelling of Hamlet as a hardboiled noir story, and you who never hesitates to be a beta reader for my work.
4) You approached RM as a fan when you'd already begun your Guns of the Wasteland. Flattered, RM asked to see some of your work. In what ways did he mentor you on writing and the business?
Creatively: He didn't hesitate to tell me his honest opinion of my work. I'm thinking in particular of my story "Gods For Sale, Cheap," which he maintained was not a story at all, but more of a vignette. While I disagreed, I took some of his suggestions to heart (gave the unnamed protagonist more of a character arc, for example) and made a much better story. And I've already mentioned his ideas about letting your characters run free a bit, which is probably the one lesson of his I have taken the most to heart.
Business: He literally got me my first publishing contract. When he was approached by Venture Press, a UK publisher now a part of Joffe Books, to reprint his back catalog, he sent along his copy of my Guns of the Waste Land, telling them that he thought they'd like my work as well if they were interested in his. He was correct.
5) You in turn coached RM on formatting and publishing on Kindle. You proofread and edited his later work. An ideal balance. Was there ever any friction between his role as mentor and new directions you wanted to take? Between his take on Parsival and yours?
Not at all. He trusted my experience with formatting and editing. His work needed little in the way of editing anyway outside of proofreading and the occasional continuity error. As far as our views of Parsival, we were always in lockstep there. Our tastes were so similar, that we never had any friction when editing Parsival or any other work.
6) A darker quote from Robert Greene: 'Beware the illustrious master's shadow. Try out their ideas but always transfigure them and differentiate yourself. Your goal is to surpass the master.' Agree or disagree? Or is there another option: can we stand on the shoulders of giants to raise their own bars even higher?
I never really see myself as in competition with my mentors. I feel like we are both working together to increase the quality (and quantity) of good fiction (whether literary or genre) in a world where literacy rates are in real danger. There's literally too much at stake in getting people to find reading material they enjoy and keep our culture from descending into mindless viewers of the television for us to be petty over our accomplishments. Perhaps if I was living in the Golden Age of literature (say the 1920-1960's) I'd feel differently.
Also, make no mistake, I'm not at all calling for the elimination of television. I enjoy my shows as much as the next person. I just want us to have more and varied forms of information, entertainment, and infotainment.
Also, make no mistake, I'm not at all calling for the elimination of television. I enjoy my shows as much as the next person. I just want us to have more and varied forms of information, entertainment, and infotainment.
7) So many writing friendships and alliances go wrong. Looking back, what were the key ingredients that enabled your partnership with RM not just to survive but to grow?
I think we really just felt very strongly for each other. We really loved each other. He was like a kind of father figure to me, like a writing father, and I feel like he had almost paternal feelings for me as well. I think the main thing is to have a personal relationship with your mentors outside of the actual writing.
I miss him greatly, and would love nothing better than to be able to visit him in New York and hang out watching baseball and samurai movies. Maybe we'd talk a little writing too.
I miss him greatly, and would love nothing better than to be able to visit him in New York and hang out watching baseball and samurai movies. Maybe we'd talk a little writing too.
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Leverett Butts is the award-winning author of the Guns of the Waste Land series, a four-volume
collection retelling the King Arthur myths as an American Western. When not writing he
teaches American literature at the Gainesville campus of the University of North Georgia, spends time with his family or plays video games.
He lives in Carrollton, Georgia with his family, his dog, an indifferent cat.
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Welcome to MacRathWorld, if you like premium blends of mystery, action, and suspense. From Caesar's Rome to Seattle today, the twists fly at the speed of night. If you're unfamiliar with my work, I recommend starting with Nobility or the new Seattle BOP mysteries. Here's the link to my AuthorPage on Amazon for a detailed look at the variety of 'rides' in my amusement park.
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