Mentor and Friend

FEATURED AUTHOR—EARL HAMNER Mentor and Friend___________________ Cynthia Cotten Long before I knew Earl Hamner as a friend, he was an unwitting mentor to me when I was struggling to join the ranks of published writers. There are books and magazines galore which tell the budding writer how to create vivid characters, how to make a setting real, how to create suspense. I read many such books and magazines, and learned something useful from each one. Still, a cardinal rule for fiction writers is "show, don't tell." Don't tell me there was a beautiful sunset—show me the colors, the light, the way the mountains loomed dark and strong against the twilight sky. Don't tell me your parents loved each other—show me the way your father looked at your mother when he came home in the evening, the way she brushed her hand against him when she walked past his chair. Let me hear the quiet laughter from behind their closed bedroom door. Through his writing, whether for television or in book form, Earl showed me how to create those characters, that setting, that suspense. More than anything, he showed me how to touch a reader's heart—how to create genuine emotion without being manipulative. In 2001 an acquaintance who knew Earl sent him a copy of my first published children's book. He e-mailed me to say how much he liked it. Since then, we have become good friends, exchanging e-mails and the occasional instant message, and talking often on the phone. When I went to Los Angeles for the first time, in 2005, he took me to lunch at a restaurant where, he said, "all the writers used to go," and we spent a good part of the afternoon talking about books and writing and life. It was a lunch I will never forget. At some point during any phone conversation I have with Earl, I know he will ask THE question: "What are you working on?" And there is no way I can sidestep this question. Mr. H. wants an answer. If what I'm working on is going well, that answer comes readily, and I can feel his approving smile come right through the phone. If I haven't been writing as regularly as I should, I am likely to come up with reasons why, something akin to a fourth-grader's plaint of "the dog ate my homework." Eventually, though, the truth comes out—I 19 admit that I'm having a problem with a story, and it becomes obvious that I'm avoiding the problem by not writing. After I've had my little whine, we talk about the story. Sometimes I figure out right then what I need to do. Other times, the solution comes to me later. Always, Earl's gently chiding "now, get to work on that!" puts me back on track. And 'on track' is a pretty good way to describe Earl Hamner. He is always working on something new—a book, a play, a screenplay. He has produced such an impressive body of work, one I know I will never match, no matter how hard I work. All I can do is be inspired by it, and by him—and I am, every single day. 20 ...