Quotes by David Bergen - Page 1 | QuoteForever

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I like characters who are contradictory.
David Bergen / Novelist
Contradictory
Copy Quote
The IMPAC is a terribly important award.
David Bergen / Novelist
Award
Terribly
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Failure is essential. Trial and error is necessary.
David Bergen / Novelist
Failure
Trial And Error
Error
Necessary
Trial
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I always have a book that I use that somehow inspires my novels.
David Bergen / Novelist
Book
Inspires
Somehow
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That's the novelist's job: to peel back the layers and look underneath.
David Bergen / Novelist
Layers
Novelist
Peel
Underneath
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As a writer, I'm always aware of the fact that there are so many books out there.
David Bergen / Novelist
Writer
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Books in general are great, but I'm a fiction lover, and I will continue to do it.
David Bergen / Novelist
Lover
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A mentor, a 'teacher,' is like an editor. I absolutely value my editor, who is my teacher.
David Bergen / Novelist
Teacher
Absolutely
Editor
Value
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Every year, the Giller jury is different. You write the best book you can and throw it out there.
David Bergen / Novelist
Jury
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Though I loved books as a young boy, I loved sports even more. I wanted to be a quarterback in the CFL.
David Bergen / Novelist
Sports
Quarterback
Boy
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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 / Novelist
Imagination
Grey
Reader
West
Boy
Figured
Horses
Large
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At the age of twenty, having published nothing and having had little guidance in my reading, I decided that I wanted to write.
David Bergen / Novelist
Decided
Guidance
Reading
Published
Twenty
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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 / Novelist
Stories
Ended
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I gave up writing for seven years (very biblical) and picked it up again, still clueless and still seeking the exotic, when I was twenty-one.
David Bergen / Novelist
Bible
Clueless
Exotic
Seeking
Twenty One
Picked
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Invite characters of surprising and moral character, or at least those who grapple with what is right or those who make decisions that shock.
David Bergen / Novelist
Moral
Moral Character
Shock
Surprising
Decisions
Invite
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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 / Novelist
Book
Edited
Response
Thrown
Writer
Copy
Editor
Published
There And Then
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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.
David Bergen / Novelist
Accomplice
Editor
Essential
Objective
Vacuum
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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 / Novelist
Religion
Type
Came
Certainly
Having
Shaped
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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 / Novelist
Construction
Novel
Structure
End Result
Envision
Project
Result
Unless
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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 / Novelist
Character
Curiosity
Novel
Stuff
Writer
Character Me Find
Behind
Depths
Drives
Fascinates
Underneath
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I usually submit a novel at a certain number of words, and when I've finished working with my editor, the novel is longer than when I submitted it. I need my editor to help me open up the story.
David Bergen / Novelist
Finished
Novel
Submit
Editor
Number
Longer
Submitted
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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.
David Bergen / Novelist
Accepted
Publishing
Matches
Sets
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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 / Novelist
Novel
Life Time I Am
Arrive
At Least One
Brief
Complete
Expect
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In 1970, at the age of 14, I entered a short story contest offering a grand prize of one dollar. I won. This was my first foray into writing fiction. I loved reading and thought that it shouldn't be so hard to write a story.
David Bergen / Novelist
Offering
Prize
Reading
Short Story
Contest
Dollar
Short
Won
Entered
Grand
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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 / Novelist
Clarity
Distance
Early Morning
Lifts
Prairie
Discover
Highway
Outline
Reveals
Similar
Trees
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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 / Novelist
Leap
Moved
Take A Chance
Chattering
Dive
Go For It
Ignore
Question
Voices
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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.
David Bergen / Novelist
Counting
Empty
Disappeared
Proper
Remained
Shell
Ten Years
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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 / Novelist
Book
Proud
Arrive
Box
Push
Realize
Shoulder
Tend
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The story wrote quickly. I called it 'Where You're From,' and I sent it out, as I had numerous other stories over the years. Except this time I got a letter back saying that it would be published. Someone out there had liked the story. I was thirty-one years old.
David Bergen / Novelist
Letter
Numerous
Published
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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 / Novelist
Journey
Lucky
Three
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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 / Novelist
Depression
Car
Born
Dealer
Despair
Innocence
Notes
Office
One Day
Reason
Ages
Confuse
Dates
Grow Up
Till
Suffers
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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 / Novelist
Book
Mean
Writing
Copy Quote

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