It's somewhat of a contradiction, .. I guess the quieter the voice, the more necessary it is to push it. It's not going to leap out at you and scream. I also can't control how a book is marketed. To say the book marketing is aggressive, fine, I'm happy with that. Push the book. That doesn't mean that my personality or writing style changes.

David Bergen

Categorized in : Book Mean Writing

Way back in 1989, I got lucky with my first published story when it was selected for the Journey Prize anthology. Then I got lucky three more times. It is astounding to see how many writers published in the anthology have gone on to publish great story collections and novels. The anthology is a windfall for both writer and reader.

David Bergen

three lucky journey

Failure is essential. Trial and error is necessary.

David Bergen

essential necessary error failure

I was a big reader of Zane Grey as a young boy, and so horses and the West figured large in my imagination.

David Bergen

boy grey imagination young

A mentor, a 'teacher,' is like an editor. I absolutely value my editor, who is my teacher.

David Bergen

value like mentor teacher

For me, when I 'discover' a story, there is a feeling of buoyancy and clarity, perhaps similar to early morning out on a prairie highway, when darkness lifts and reveals the outline of farmhouses and copses of trees in the distance.

David Bergen

feeling me darkness morning

In my brief writing life, it means I am still lucky that I have at least one more novel to complete. I do not expect that a story will arrive just because it is time to write another novel. It doesn't happen that way.

David Bergen

i-am time life way

When I get moved to write a story, I don't question the story. I dive right in, and I try to ignore the voices that are chattering away at me: 'You can't do that', 'You shouldn't do that'. I just sort of leap and take a chance and go for it.

David Bergen

ignore me you chance

That's the novelist's job: to peel back the layers and look underneath.

David Bergen

job back look layers

I always have a book that I use that somehow inspires my novels.

David Bergen

somehow always use book

What fascinates me as a writer is the stuff underneath, To me, what drives a novel is the curiosity behind the character and the depths that you want to find in that character.

David Bergen

me you curiosity character

One day, at my office, I wrote down some names and dates and notes, and I wrote a title, 'The Age of Despair,' and then some other 'Ages' - Innocence, God, Reason, Hope - and I wrote this as well: 'Woman, born in 1930, lives till the age of 80 or so, suffers depression, marries a car dealer, has children who grow up to confuse her.'

David Bergen

day hope god depression

I tend to push whatever is looking over my shoulder away when I am writing. It's once the box of books arrive that I say I'm going to be pilloried for this or that. But then you realize it's done, and there is nothing I can do. I'm proud of the book.

David Bergen

i-am looking you book

As a writer, I'm always aware of the fact that there are so many books out there.

David Bergen

fact books out always

You are only as good as your last book, and so there has to be a book.

David Bergen

your good you book

I think my writing was certainly shaped from having lived in a place like Niverville as well as by the family that I came from, the religion that I had, that type of thing.

David Bergen

place think family religion

I may not have written the stories that I've written if I hadn't ended up in Niverville. I don't know; I don't know. How can you know?

David Bergen

i-may-not how know you

I think a construction project for me is like writing a novel. I can't do the project unless I can envision sort of the whole structure and see what the end result might be.

David Bergen

result end think me

Every year, the Giller jury is different. You write the best book you can and throw it out there.

David Bergen

year best you book

As a writer, you write the book, you give it to your editor, it's copy edited, it's published, it's thrown out there, and then there's a response.

David Bergen

copy your you book

Though I loved books as a young boy, I loved sports even more. I wanted to be a quarterback in the CFL.

David Bergen

boy loved young sports