Learning to Kill: Stories

Afterword

I was lucky to stumble into a job at a literary agency and to find in Scott Meredith a mentor who recognized my fierce ambition and possible talent, and who offered me opportunities to develop the skills I’d never been taught in all of my college writing courses.

“How would you like to write a novel?” he asked me one day.

“A novel?” I said. “No, no, I could never write a novel.”

I was still learning to write short stories!

But the John C. Winston Company had asked the agency to provide a series of science fiction novels for young adults, and Lester del Rey (he of “Rattlesnake Cave” fame) had written short outlines for each of the novels. Scott offered me the outline for Find the Feathered Serpent, which became the first Evan Hunter novel I ever wrote, and then for Danger, Dinosaurs! and Rocket to Luna, two novels I wrote under the Richard Marsten pseudonym.

It was in Manhunt, though, that Scott offered me the greatest opportunities to develop as a writer. I was amazed earlier this year when my Hollywood agent reported that several studios had hoped for more “twists and turns of plot and less character” in a novel he’d submitted. Back in the fifties, after decades of plot-driven pulp stories, Manhunt was bold enough to explore character — the kids and the women in jeopardy, the loose cannons, the private eyes, the innocent bystanders, the gangs... and yes, the cops and robbers. Manhunt and Scott Meredith (and John McCloud, too) offered me the freedom to learn. I shall forever be grateful for the experience. From first offense to last spin, it was a remarkable journey.

Thank you for sharing it with me all over again.

DECEMBER 2004