Pierre Berton on The Joy of Writing
A Review of Berton's Advice to Aspiring Writers
Writers wondering why they struggle with writers block and rejections and the other headaches of being a writer should pick up Pierre Berton’s memoir and writer’s guide, The Joy of Writing. Then again, any writer—from beginning to advanced—can benefit from Berton’s advice on the writing life and learn from his “Thirty Rules for Up-and-Coming Writers.”
Pierre Berton’s Books
The Joy of Writing: A Guide for Writers, Disguised as a Literary Memoir (Anchor, 2003, ISBN 978-0385659987) is Berton’s fourty-ninth published book. Most of his works are narrative nonfiction, telling the stories of parts of Canada’s history, such as Klondike or Vimy. He has one work of fiction, several picture books, a few anthologies, and some young adult novels published as well.
Throughout The Joy of Writing, Berton discusses the books he’s written, sharing the struggles that he had in researching, what he learned while writing, and how his editors helped him. Berton is down-to-earth and honest about his writing, admitting when he sucked and needed to improve and why.
Pierre Berton Shares His Writing Advice
Berton opens the book with letters written to him by aspiring writers seeking advice. The letters are amusing, to say the least. They come from writers who want to know the “secret” to publication—and won’t like Berton’s answer that “there is no quick or easy road to writing any more than there is a quick or easy road to brain surgery.” Other writers want to share a great idea or get Berton to help them publish their novel. Berton gently and humorously answers these writers, giving bits of advice and yet pulling no punches about the writing life.
Berton advises every writer to take their writing seriously. He tells one writer that “you have to learn how to write, and that is something that takes time. In my own case, it has taken me forty years and I am still trying to solve some problems.” Berton remains encouraging, showing how hard work and a willingness to learn got him through the writing of each book.
Pierre Berton Needed to Write
And yet, writing is something more than hard work. Berton notes, “The need to write has always been present for me. There have been times when I have written to no real purpose except that I had to.” This urge kept pushing and pulling at him, until he became one of those writers “who write . . . to make a living and to whom writing is a calling, and indeed a profession, since it requires a professional attitude whether it pays or not.”
Berton talks of long hours spent researching and making notes; longer hours spent writing, rewriting, and rewriting again, according to his Rule No. 4: “Read! Read! Read! Write! Write! Write! Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite!”
Why Berton Wrote The Joy of Writing
Berton’s first rule of writing is “know and understand your audience,” and so in the introduction he explains that he is writing this book for “up-and-coming young writers, those who are teetering on the verge of a writing career, seeking a guide through the literary jungle, who are prepared to study their profession and to absorb the lessons of others, who are not dismayed by early rejection, who listen carefully to their editors and publishers (but not necessarily to their friends), and who greet each setback as a signpost to future triumphs.”
This book is truly a gem, one that will help those “up-and-coming young writers” in their career, and yet also entertain those “older hands” who know the situations that Berton describes. It is a book that belongs on every writer’s shelf and should be picked up regularly, to remind the writer to work hard and inspire them to succeed.
The Joy of Writing by Pierre Berton
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