AUTHOR … Local author Jerry Bergman, a prolific non-fiction writer, will be having his first fiction book published later on this year.
By: Jeremy Scott
To be a good writer, a person needs to write; a lot. For Montpelier resident Jerry Bergman, fifty non-fiction books and 1,500 articles have prepared him for his first foray into the fiction universe. His yet untitled book will be published by Harper Collins later this year.
A former college professor, Jerry has always been in love with the written word amassing a personal library of over 30,000 books. He also is a collector of degrees, holding ten Degrees and the equivalent of twenty Masters’ Degrees…so far. He also refinishes furniture, and collects classic car models.
As a non-fiction writer Jerry has wrote many history books, especially revolving around World War II and Nazism. Even though he is experienced, Jerry says that writing fiction is a completely different world. “Nonfiction you don’t use first person, you don’t use contractions, it’s all very straight forward.”
“You do a lot of research and a lot of reading. In fiction you write how people talk. You need to use contractions, use expressions, use phrases that we use when we talk, because how we talk is different than how we write.”
In writing fiction, Jerry has received some great instruction from fellow authors in the Williams County Writer’s Group. In the beginning he said that he started writing his fiction using the same wording as his non-fiction works.
The group pointed out the need to use common speech for a story, to help engage the audience and make it more believable. He also found it helpful for critiquing. Jerry has at least five people read his novel, and every one can give good suggestions to improved the flow of the story.
He also received helpful instruction from his publisher. In his first draft Jerry believed that it was better to be nice and sweet; uncontroversial. In hearing back from his publisher, Harper Collins, which is a Christian Publisher, they told him that his story needed violence, throw in a couple murders, which he didn’t expect.
Seventy percent of the readers of books published by Harper Collins are women, and he did not think they would want to read about those sorts of things. Jerry found out, “To sell books you’ve got to get some excitement in there. So now I start out my fiction books with a murder, that’s the first event, or some horrible event.”
In speaking about his upcoming book Jerry says “My first story is about a rape case, and it turns out in a very different way than people expect it to.” With racial overtones and the upsetting situation, the main character is obviously shaken by the event.
As the story progresses, it also becomes more complex. In essence, his novel is two different stories, which each having a connecting theme, but separated by many years.
The story is inspired by cases he dealt with while he was working for the courts, prison, and probation department as a therapist working for Arlington Psychological Associates. It gave him a unique insight of the mind of people and what could cause them to do some of the heinous things that we as a species can perpetuate unto each other.
There are many steps to publishing a book. From ethics, to covers, to titles, publishers are very involved in the process. The publisher wants a successful book, and they work very hard to maximize the profit they can get from an author.
Jerry has many more ideas for future stories, and hopes that his first crack at fiction will lead to a successful career as a fiction writer. Look for his story later this year.
Jeremy can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com