The Value of Experience: How Mentors Help Writers

In The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury (HarperCollins, 2005), biographer Sam Weller explores at length the legendary fantasy writer’s evolution as a storyteller. It began in earnest after a teenaged Bradbury joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, many of whose members would go on to form the foundation of the genre’s golden age. Bradbury was a neophyte writer struggling to find his voice, and a handful of members, recognizing the budding scribe’s innate talent, agreed to mentor him.

Many authors influenced Bradbury as he honed his craft, but the individuals most prominent in his future success as a writer were Robert Heinlein, who helped Bradbury make his first professional magazine sale; short-story master Henry Kuttner, who encouraged Bradbury to stop mimicking his favorite authors, eschew the purple prose, and find his own voice; and Leigh Brackett, who spent hours with Bradbury teaching him—mostly through example—about structure, characterization, and more.

Of the three, Brackett