There will be those who question how I went about editing a memoir written by someone long dead. Did I put words in his mouth? Did I change his voice? How did I deal with the inevitable, questions, puzzles and mistakes.
Well, it was a process. I spend my winters in San Miguel Allende, Mexico and, in 2017, I had with me ten audio tapes of the 1978 and 1980 radio interviews done with Manuel Alvarez and my father, Jim Higgins. I listened, and made copious notes. Nice little project.
Years earlier, in the 1990s, I had typed the material into a computer, waiting for the day when I’d have the time to tackle what I knew was mine to do. William French’s words, “Heroes Deserve Histories, Too”, never left me.
In July, 2017, I embarked in earnest on the project, and started with organizing the mass of material—hand-written and typed versions, letters from Manuel, piles of newspaper clippings, and 40 audio tapes, including the ten interview tapes I’d listened to in San Miguel. The other 30 tapes were recordings of my father reading what he had written.
I then made some relatively minor edits of the “chapters”, mostly to remove repetition and redundancies. Though I was also able to clarify a few things, it was still a confusing story, and there were hints of problems to come; this chapter didn’t seem to have an ending, that chapter didn’t make sense. I realized this was going to need more work than I’d thought.
At this tricky point, I left the editing aside and did two things. First, I booked a Spanish Civil War Tour—I wanted to know more about the war but, more than that, I was compelled to see the spot in Corbera d’Ebre, where my father saved Manuel Alvarez. The tour was to be in October, 2017.
The second thing I did, was listen to the 30 audio tapes my father made of his memoir. I was hoping against hope, that he had ad-libbed on those tapes; maybe I’d get some answers to the questions that were surfacing.
Beyond that, I badly needed permission to do what I knew needed to be done. I had started out with the sense that I shouldn’t change a word; that what he left behind was somehow sacred. I knew I had to get over that hurdle.
Luckily, I got much of what I needed. My father ad-libbed most of the missing chapter endings, and I learned how some of his material went missing. Sadly, it’s unlikely it will be recovered.
Most importantly, I received the permission I craved. Several times, through the course of reading aloud, he had commented about the need for his memoir to be edited, the most pertinent being, “It needs to be rewritten and edited. If I can’t rewrite it, it needs to be edited by someone else.”
Did I put words into his mouth? It took a while to decide but, yes, there were times when, for the sake of the narrative, I chose to do so.
Did I change his writing style? I don’t believe so. At one point, early on, I started contracting words, so it would sound less formal. After thinking about it, I changed them back, except where he was quoting conversations.
Not every puzzle piece is in place, and some are missing. I’ll be doing another edit in September, 2018, based on feedback from my beta-readers. And, as I write this, I’ve been public for a week on this blog and on Facebook. I’ve already been contacted by people in Canada and Spain, who have additional information. I’m excited about what lies ahead and solving more of the puzzles.
© Janette Higgins
NOW PUBLISHED: Fighting for Democracy: The True Story of Jim Higgins (1907-1982), A Canadian Activist in Spain’s Civil War (2020) is available worldwide from Independent Bookstores, Chapters-Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. Kindle version on Amazon. Orders of three or more: Friesen Press.
I encourage you to obtain it from your local Indie bookseller or library. And if you can leave a review or “star” it somewhere, like Amazon or Goodreads, that would be much appreciated!
Fighting for Democracy by Jim Higgins is the latest book about the Mac-Paps, Canadians in the Mackenzie Papineau Battalion, which was part of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Other books about Canadians in the Spanish Civil War include Not For King or Country by Tyler Wentzell , Mac-Pap by Ronald Liversedge with David Yorke and Renegades by Michael Petrou.
Janette, what a great idea to blog and post before publication. I hope you edit very little, and note when you have done so in the book. I am posting under my “social media” name.
Thanks, Dunny. I’ve edited as little as possible, as described in the post. Anything I’ve added, to clarify his story for the reader, is in a note at the beginning or end of the chapter. I didn’t rewrite his material, other than in the ways I’ve mentioned.I’ve also written an epilogue.
The important thing is, that I haven’t changed his voice. (See my sister, Susan’s comment; she read the manuscript this past spring and provided some great feedback to improve it.) Of course, it’ll go through another round of editing by someone else, whether it’s published by a mainstream publisher, or by myself.
What most self-publishers don’t realize is how critical the editing is, which has led to a lot of inferior books in recent years, now that it’s so much easier to self publish. I was lucky enough to have had an editor for my series of bed-and-breakfast books. I was early into the self-publishing game in 1988, when I published the first edition.
Having a good editor was one of the important reasons for the positive reviews for my B&B book and why it became a Canadian best seller; that first edition sold close to 15,000 copies.
I want to beat that record with this book. Excellence is the name of the game. Even a well-known author, like Margaret Atwood, has several editors, of different sorts, for each book.
I hear his voice in the manuscript, even though there was a ton of work done to edit, organize and clarify the content for a public audience. Our dad was not prone to exaggeration, so people can rest assured that there are no “Tall Tales” in his memoir!
That’s great to hear, Susan. And you’re right to make the point about our dad not being prone to exaggeration. He was a straight ahead, to the point, kind of guy—except when it came to himself and the special role he played in the Spanish Civil War. One of the problems I’ve had in editing the memoir is that he was modest to a fault. It took a while to pick out the threads that needed emphasis, so that his story could be better understood. He was still full of secrets when he was writing,(veiled references, missing information about his role) but research turned up some interesting information that helped clarify things for me. I think I’ve managed to bring out his true role, in special machine gun units behind enemy lines, in a much more obvious way then he did.
Your sister Maggie was good enough to lend me her copy of The Tall Soldier a few years ago . I read it eagerly as I knew little about the Spanish Civil war but was very much aware of the legacy it has left with the next generations and the country as a whole . My family have been regular visitors to Spain for over 40 years visiting the Almeria region mainly where our family villa is located . During these trips we have met a variety of Spanish people from all walks of life , with many becoming friends who we have kept contact with . It has always intrigued me most of these people have kept memories of the war alive and often will make reference to a relative or incident particularly poignant to them . Going into their homes I notice some will keep a sort of ‘shrine’ in one corner with photographs and momentos such as rosaries or in one case an old wallet with a hole through it .
The war may be long over , but it is still definitely alive with many . I am wondering if your work shouldn’t be translated for a whole different audience overseas .
Hello Michael,
Thank you. I’m willing to bet that there is a market in Spain for a translated version of this book, especially because of the story of Manuel Álvarez finally finding my dad after 40 years to thank him for saving his life. Manuel’s book, The Tall Soldier, was translated into Spanish.
I find it very interesting to hear about your experience in Almería. One of the manuscript’s beta readers, Jason Webster, an author who has lived in Spain, wrote a book about the sort of thing you’re talking about. I linked to it in this blog post.
Janette