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 #5
Generally, less is more. Yet there are times when more is more — when what the editor spots as repetition is actually beneficial emphasis, and should be kept.
Missed the previous tips? Check out Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip #3, and Tip #4.
Sasha Champman praised Stories About Storytellers in the December 2011 issue of The Walrus magazine. The review notes,
“Gibson’s forty years at the epicentre of Canadian publishing inform his rollicking first book, Stories About Storytellers. . . . Gibson is a gossip of the first order, the kind who tells all, or at least enough, about his subjects’ foibles, but always in a way that delights in their eccentricities. He writes with charming exuberance about his role as midwife to the memoirs of several prime ministers. . . . Likewise, Gibson’s stories profile not just storytellers, but also the country that produced them.”
Read the full review online here.
There’s more Stories About Storytellers to enjoy on the Canadian Encyclopedia blog. This week share in Doug’s “Hollywood moment” as he’s presented with a manuscript he knows is a bestseller. To read it, head over to the Canadian Encyclopedia.
(Have you missed the previous excerpts? You can still read the selections on Brian Mulroney, Mavis Gallant, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, Stephen Leacock and Alice Munro.)
Photo by Kim Fong
My first encounter with the “magic carpet” treatment that authors receive from Literary Festivals came at the Edmonton airport when we were met by the friendly volunteer Jean Crozier, who whisked us in her car to our downtown hotel. In less than an hour I was perched on one of those bar stools reserved for TV talk shows, and trying to interest the passing crowd of shoppers in the possibility of coming along to my show that evening. The amiable CBC host/interviewer got the name of my book wrong, but recovered swiftly after I happened to mention it in the course of my reply. Another of my Awful Warningscomes true in real life. Lunch with the energetic David Cheoros, who runs the festival, resplendent in characteristic suspenders. Then we moved to the Milner Library Theatre for technical preparation — stage setting, lights, screen, sound, with my “Techie,” Jane, handling the computer power point show link-up. I ran through 10 minutes, almost like a real professional actor, then we called it a day . . . or a rehearsal. It’s remarkable fun to work with real professionals in an unfamiliar world.
Photo by Kim Fong
That evening the show went fine, with the attendant photos by the excellent Kim Fong showing what it was like. Afterwards I got to sit there smiling at a table and signing books, some of them to Alberta relatives, but others to apparently sober civilians. There are book-signing tricks, as I am learning. When an old acquaintance whose name you have forgotten asks you to sign, the stand-by “And how would you like me to sign it?” does not always work. “Oh, just to me” is not the reply you want. And the feeble, “Let me be certain about how you spell your name” can lead to the barked reply,”Mary!” I’m sure there are ways out of this. Time will tell.
— Douglas Gibson
Photo by Kim Fong
Over on the Indigo Non-Fiction blog, Doug Gibson has written a guest post titled “Harder Than I Thought: A Publisher Tries to Write a Book.” The piece begins,
In theory, it should have been easy. After all, in a career of over 40 years, I had edited well over a hundred books, and published thousands. In the role of midwife/cheerleader (“Push! Push! You’re almost there, Alistair!”) I had been involved in the creation of hundreds of books. I knew all of the best tricks and techniques for planning then writing books. Indeed, I was such an expert that I had been known to express impatience with authors who were slow in completing their manuscripts. What the hell was the matter with them?
To find out where things go from there, head over to the Indigo blog.
We’re one week away from the Toronto launch of Stories About Storytellers. It’s going to be a full house, so please don’t forget to RSVP!
Writer and broadcaster Nigel Beale live blogged Douglas Gibson’s stage show Stories About Storytellers at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. Beale writes,
Gibson is an engaging, endearing — at times ebullient – animated storyteller, and a talented mimic. . . . Read Stories About Storytellers. It’s delightful fun. And if Gibson delivers his one man presentation of it at a Festival anywhere near you, run to it. It’s even better. Complete with music, it’s an event worthy of Stephen Leacock. Charles Dickens even.
Get a feel for the show by reading the live blog here.
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 #4
Consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds, but most of us have little minds that find it very useful in matters of spelling, punctuation, and style.
Missed the previous tips? Check out Tip #1, Tip #2, and Tip #3.
The Granville Island Hotel is the centre of the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival, run by a dedicated staff under Hal Wake. The usual suspects assembled there although Jane and I were also lucky enough to attend the opening night Gala Dinner. This was a Bollywood-themed extravaganza, with much merriment, where I was delighted to meet the splendid non-fiction writer John Vaillant. I told him that he was mentioned in my book, where I bitterly regretted that despite my Haida Gwaii knowledge, I never had the chance to publish his superb book The Golden Spruce. (I have now read his latest book, The Tiger, which I recommend – but not for bedtime reading.)
The MC of the dinner was the admirable Bill Richardson, who met up with me to recall a publishing prize-giving ceremony in Toronto where I accepted his challenge to accept a prize using “interpretive dance.” He claimed at the time that generations of my ancestors were spinning in their graves.
The prize, by the way, was for doing good environmental work. The truth of the matter is that Alice Munro twisted my arm to have Hateship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage printed on recycled paper, which at the time was both eccentric and expensive. By doing it with this major bestseller, M&S broke the log-jam, and now it is usual, sensible publishing practice. But the credit all goes to Alice.
On the Tuesday evening I was thrown to the lions (and tigers), doing a one-man show at the Improv Theatre, where I told the audience from the empty stage that my book consisted of stories about these 20 authors, then asked for the names they’d like me to tell stories about. It was an exciting high-wire act, and it seemed to work, right down to my friend, Paul Whitney, calling the event to a halt with a request for “one last story.” It must have worked, since the head of the Sunshine Coast Festival was in the audience, and later invited me to their Festival next August.
A new life beckons.
One behind the scenes story: I was in the Green Room backstage with seven minutes to go, when I thought it prudent to visit the washroom. “Not that one,” I was told, “the one in the corridor.” Nobody added the words. “But don’t close the door, or you’ll be trapped inside.” You can imagine the rest, including the thunderous beating on the door until I was released just in time. You will understand why Jane was appalled for the next 75 minutes as I strode around at the very front of the stage with my zipper at half mast. All part of the excitement of the unscripted show.
Afterwards I signed copies for a crowd including the woman I first met as a seven-year-old next door in Toronto, and a downstairs neighbour from a later apartment. My life flashed across my eyes. The best surprise of all occurred in Banff when Robin Spano, the fine novelist published by ECW, greeted me with the words, “Hi, you once came to talk to my high-school class.” And so I did, at Jarvis Collegiate twenty years ago.
Everything connects.
— Douglas Gibson
The Saturday, October 29th edition of the Globe and Mail contained Linda Leith’s positive review of Stories About Storytellers. Leith concludes,
“Gibson is an engaging and on the whole a modest figure and a very fine raconteur. He, too, has had a hell of an interesting life. His book makes for great reading, and he makes his life in publishing sound like great fun.”
Read the full review here.
The Saturday Globe also published several short excerpts from Stories About Storytellers. Read them here.
Douglas Gibson 