David Bergen
David Bergen
David Bergenis a Canadian novelist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has published eight novels and one collection of short stories since 1993. His most recent novel, Leaving Tomorrow, was published in September 2014...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth14 January 1957
CountryCanada
age born car children confuse dates god grow hope lives marries names suffers till wrote
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.'
age decided published
At the age of twenty, having published nothing and having had little guidance in my reading, I decided that I wanted to write.
easily expect four good humbled main others quite reason writers
I didn't expect to be up here. I'm quite humbled by this and the main reason I'm humbled is that there were four others who could easily be up here; that humbles me. We have so many good writers in this country.
envision might sort unless
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.
figured horses large reader
I was a big reader of Zane Grey as a young boy, and so horses and the West figured large in my imagination.
counting empty proper remained shape ten took trying work
It took me ten years to write a proper story. I floundered about trying to shape something, counting on the 'feeling' I had as I wrote, only to discover upon rereading my work that the feeling had disappeared, and what remained was an empty shell.
aware
As a writer, I'm always aware of the fact that there are so many books out there.
continue general great
Books in general are great, but I'm a fiction lover, and I will continue to do it.
accepted experience matches perhaps piece publishing sets starts truth
The first accepted piece of writing is the most exciting. No other publishing experience matches it. Perhaps jaundice sets in, or expectations are raised, or one starts to think that one is better than is the truth.
characters invite surprising
Invite characters of surprising and moral character, or at least those who grapple with what is right or those who make decisions that shock.
thrown
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.
somehow
I always have a book that I use that somehow inspires my novels.
failure trial
Failure is essential. Trial and error is necessary.
editor objective publish
An editor is an accomplice, looking in from the outside. That objective view is essential. We don't write in a vacuum, and we don't publish in a vacuum.