She would have seen herself as a journalist, in love with words and curious about others and their stories. Her scientific studies ultimately led her to the food industry. A sector in which Delphine Berthon worked for more than twenty years in the same company as quality, safety, environment manager. But at the end of 2019, this 46-year-old mother preferred to say stop and resigned from her position. “Too much pressure from my superiors and above all the desire to do something else,” she confides.
Three years later, she has now become a biographer for individuals, lending her pen to write the lives of others. “It was after a skills assessment that I turned to this profession that I had never heard of,” says the public writer, based in Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt near Rennes. To get the hang of it, Delphine first started by writing the biography of her father, then that of a friend’s father. Before his first client knocks on his door. “An old gentleman of 90 who had grown up in Versailles in a wealthy environment and who had worked as a pediatrician in Rennes,” she remembers.
“Customers tell me what they want”
Before putting his life on paper, the biographer listened to him at length with around ten hours of interviews under the clock. “You have to get along well and make customers feel confident, so you have to have the gift of listening,” she assures. Empathy is also essential in this profession. “I’m not here to judge them,” she says. Clients tell me what they want, they can lie, omit certain moments of their life or magnify it. »
Once these memories have been collected, Delphine then takes it upon herself to write a life story, often chronologically and always using the present tense and the I. “We must have the impression that they are the ones who wrote the book,” says the biographer, who does not consider herself “an extraordinary writer. » Since she started practicing, around ten clients have entrusted her with the task of telling the story of their lives in a book, printed in a few copies. Very often elderly people who wish to leave a written trace for their children and grandchildren. “These may be people from a somewhat wealthy background and who have had very rich lives, but also people who started from nothing and who have succeeded,” says Delphine.
Rekindle childhood memories
Recently, the biographer also heard from a 35-year-old woman who had had a difficult childhood and wanted to write about it. “But I’m not a psychologist either,” she warns. She still recognizes that diving back into their memories stirs some people who “sometimes have trouble sleeping” after an interview session. Clients who also sometimes have faltering memories, especially childhood memories. “In this case, I try to revive these memories by asking them about their family home, their parents, their brothers and sisters,” she explains. Some also sometimes get lost in details so I try to pick up the thread with them. »
In the coming days, Delphine will take up her pen to recount the journey of Breton walker Serge Georgelin, currently in Australia to try to beat the world record for crossing the island-continent. “An incredible adventure”, assures the one who found her happiness by listening to the anonymous people tell each other: “And everyone has lots of things to tell! »