Editing Tips from Douglas Gibson (#6)

by JK

Every two weeks we’re sharing tips for editors from the desk of Douglas Gibson. Good for those starting out or old hands who need a reminder, these reminders form an engaging guide for sharp-eyed wordsmiths.

Tip #6

When an author is struggling to write a book, a shrewd editorial trick is to ask the struggler to come up with the book’s title and subtitle. This tends to concentrate the author’s mind, and to give both a destination and a course towards it.

Missed the previous tips? Check out Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip #3,  Tip #4, and Tip #5.

Friends new and old in Waterloo

by Douglas Gibson

Outside Words Worth bookstore I learned that my book contained a lie. The Epilogue tells authors flatly, “You will never see your book in a bookstore window.” Yet there were four copies of my book (not “sun-bleached, warped, and topped by dead flies”) in a window that advertised my appearance in the store that night. This amazing sight had to be captured for posterity, and Jane took a photo of me standing shyly beside the window display. At this a passer-by, a man of around 60, came up and said, “Are you Doug Gibson?” I had barely admitted the fact, when I saw that my wife was throwing herself into the arms of this stranger, emitting glad cries. They had gone to high school together.

The coincidences continued with my audience including a former M&S colleague, a man I met at Alice Munro’s 80th birthday party in Wingham, and Erica, a bookstore employee who once interned at M&S.

The best coincidence of all took place at the Giller Prize the previous evening. Jane and I were chatting with Andrew O’Hagan (a Scot who comes about 12 miles away from my home village), when he broke off to talk with a couple who were waiting politely beside us. In due course he directed their attention to me, saying, “And do you know Doug Gibson?”

Amazement all round because as they, David and Mandy, put it, “Know him? No, but he’s coming to our store in Waterloo tomorrow!” So I was among friends, and after a generous introduction from David (I asked Jane if she was taking notes) we had an interview, then I told stories about authors requested by the full-house audience. It was great fun for me, and at the end David gave a highly memorable quote to the crowd, describing my work as “a damn near perfect book.”

Would I make this up?

Talking of that, I’m so impressed by the attention and publicity produced by the Giller Prize that I’m starting to hope that some readers will accuse me of inventing stories. Then . . . Ta Da! . . . I can classify my book as fiction, and enter it for next year’s Giller Prize.

— Douglas Gibson

An excerpt on Morley Callaghan on the Canadian Encyclopedia blog

by JK

Enjoy another selection from  Stories About Storytellers at the Canadian Encyclopedia blog. This week, Doug remembers reading a new Morley Callaghan manuscript under the author’s close supervision. To read the excerpt, head over to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

(Have you missed the previous excerpts? You can still read the selections on Paul Martin, Barry Broadfoot, Brian Mulroney, Mavis Gallant, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau,  Stephen Leacock and Alice Munro.)

A fine place, Ottawa

by Douglas Gibson

A Sunday afternoon in a Presbyterian church is not normally my idea of a time and place for fun, but Sean Wilson’s successful Ottawa festival has made the church hall at Lisgar and Elgin a fine centre for literary events.

I followed a lively debate about Israel between two authors with widely differing views, and was delighted to see that my audience included authors like Charles Gordon and Denise Chong, political actors whom I published like Eddie Goldenberg, political columnists/friends like John Ivison and Jeffrey Simpson, and many old friends.

Although the podium could not be moved onstage (which left me strolling about at audience level, in front of the stage) the show seemed to go well, and my old bookselling friend David Dolan proceeded to sell out of all 25 copies he had ordered for the signing. Signed copies are a verifiable measure of success, very welcome in a world of vague compliments.

Much better than vague compliments were the comments on the blog of Ottawa’s Nigel Beale, who tells people to “run” to see my show, going on to compare it to performances by “Stephen Leacock. Charles Dickens even.” If you don’t believe it, see for yourself. I think I can state that this is the first and last time that I‘ll be compared to Charles Dickens, but I’m enjoying the moment.

The perceptive Nigel, who interviewed me later, liked the book, too. A fine place, Ottawa.

— Douglas Gibson

Stories About Storytellers Companion Reading (#3)

by JK

Many early readers of Stories About Storytellers have remarked that they finish reading it only to rush to pick up one of the other books Doug has so lovingly described. So to make it easier, this recurring feature revisits some of those books and reminds you why they’re worth a read. Last time, we revisited Broken Ground by Jack Hodgins, and this we’re featuring . . .

Man Descending by Guy Vanderhaeghe (1982)

I did not edit this collection of Guy’s stories, which won the Governor-General’s Award in 1982, but I did publish it. In fact I remember being flu-struck at home when I took the chance to read this manuscript sent in by an unknown writer that my colleagues had recommended, and even through the fever it was clear to me that this was a remarkable book from a fine new voice.

Impressed by Guy’s new book, A Good Man, I’ve just re-read Man Descending, and it continues to delight me. If you’ve skipped over it, for whatever reason, run to catch up to it. The tough, clear prairie voices (often of working-class young guys who are rarely heard in “Literature”) ring out from each page, and from the start you know you’re in the hands of a real writer. Like Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant, Margaret Atwood, Alistair MacLeod and a few others, Guy has shown that Canadian readers (more than most) will respond to short stories, and make them commercial as well as artistic successes. This remarkable book is both.

For a bit more on Guy Vanderhaeghe see page 274 of Stories About Storytellers.

On IFOA and “The Floating World” of Authors

by Douglas Gibson

For many writers, the Toronto IFOA has such a pedigree that it marks a high point in their promotional lives. If, however, you’re on the tour, it’s just another meeting of the “Floating World” of authors. So the hospitality suite is a place of festival reunions (“Hey, I missed you after Banff. How was Vancouver?”), and I was glad to catch up with many friends from earlier festivals, and with old friends like Elizabeth Hay, who once graced the delightful Tepoztlan Canadian festival in Mexico, and whom I’m proud to have published.

I ran into David Adams Richards, and learned that one chapter in my book is out of date. Talking about Jack Hodgins, I lament the fact that perhaps I gave him bad advice by urging him to stay far away from Toronto. To make my point I note how well my friend David’s career has developed since he abandoned New Brunswick and moved to Toronto. David gently reminded me that after many years in Toronto, he moved back east, to Fredericton, two years ago.

Signing after their IFOA event, Sylvia Tyson and Douglas Gibson.

As for the show, I had the surprising honour of having Sylvia Tyson precede me (“I once had Sylvia Tyson open for me” is a good boast for posterity. ) Her reading from her novel was punctuated by occasional songs. When I followed her, in the course of my one-hour show, I sang one line, which gives me room for a tiny singing boast. I’m still working on it.

— Douglas Gibson

A Stop at Brock

by Douglas Gibson

I was delighted to be a keynote speaker at Brock’s Annual Two Days of Canada conference. I gave the full 90-minute show, punctuated by my ripping off a malfunctioning lapel mic and shouting my way through whenever I strayed from the mic behind the podium. There is a rule that no mic works immediately when you’re setting up, or consistently, when you are set up. So adaptability is not just a virtue, but a necessity. But a stage show with the performer tethered behind a podium is a reduced version of the real thing.

I was kindly looked after by my faculty hosts, Scott and Marian, and stunned by a case of extraordinary academic memory retention. One fine man kindly remembered a talk on Hugh MacLennan that I gave nineteen years ago!
A high point for me came from the name of the room where I performed: Pond Inlet. There I was, recreating a polar bear attack in a room (almost as far south as Niagara Falls) entitled Pond Inlet, with the room’s nameplate using English, French, and Inuktitut.

Signing books afterwards allowed me to chat with Shelley Martin, of the Brock bookstore, who is a veteran who has worked with most of the authors in my book. My book signing is getting better. When in doubt, I  write “Best wishes.” The encouraging slogan “Good reading!” can sound awfully close to boasting, a description rather than an exhortation.

— Douglas Gibson

An excerpt on Paul Martin on the Canadian Encyclopedia blog

by JK

Sample another story from Stories About Storytellers this Friday at the Canadian Encyclopedia blog. This week, Doug gives his take on what went wrong when Paul Martin was PM. To read the excerpt, head over to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

(Have you missed the previous excerpts? You can still read the selections on Barry Broadfoot, Brian Mulroney, Mavis Gallant, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau,  Stephen Leacock and Alice Munro.)

The Grand Farewell Tour

by Douglas Gibson

One of the most interesting aspects of this tour is that people treat it as a Grand Farewell Tour. They come forward to remind me of long-forgotten incidents. I guess it’s much better than waiting for the post-funeral reception, when (mostly) affectionate stories about the Dear Departed circulate.

Three examples. The admired novelist Catherine Bush reminded me that as a young person she was once complaining  to me about how many books she already had, so that she was reluctant to buy any more. Apparently I scolded her, saying, “If people like you don’t buy books, who do you think is going to buy them?” The scolding worked, and has stayed with her.

Carolyn Wood, now the head of the Association of Canadian Publishers, volunteered the information that when she applied for a first job in publishing she sent out dozens of letters. Most went into a black hole. Four or five received a form reply. One received a personal letter, apparently from me, which she has never forgotten. This, I hope, will go some way to atone for the thousands of rejection letters, the millions of unreturned phone calls (a publishing world satirical show in the 1980s had Anne Ledden, posing as an M&S phone receptionist, apologising to irate callers with the words, “Mr. Gibson is not familiar with the use of his instrument”) and all the other rudenesses that besmirch my publishing career.

Finally, Linwood Barclay recalls a conversation where he, a genuinely modest man, was marvelling at the upturn in his fortunes which mean that his new books now hit Number One on the U.K. Bestseller lists. I, apparently, assured him “that he was now just accepting his due.” He liked that. Linwood has a wonderful/terrible story of how fate slaps new authors around. When his first book came out, he shyly went to the bookstore in the local mall. To his delight he found a pile of his books, with the tag “Recommended by Jamie.” Lyndon went in search of this perceptive staff member, who had taken the opportunity to give his book a personal recommendation. He found “Jamie” and, eagerly shaking his hand, told him how delighted he was to be singled out for his personal praise. Jamie seemed a little surprised. When Linwood, still babbling, took him to the pile of books, Jamie reacted irritably. “Oh they moved that,” he said, taking the “Recommended by Jamie” sign out from Linwood’s pile and inserting it into a neighbouring stack of books by another author. Linwood watched, open-mouthed. And remembered.

— Douglas Gibson