David Bergen Quotes

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

• Up
• Help
• Words

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

• Imagination
• Boy

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

• Writing
• Family

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

• Up
• God
• Children

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

• Character
• Moral

Failure is essential. Trial and error is necessary.

David Bergen

• Failure

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

David Bergen

• Different
• Book