Rivertime (reflections on rivers and writing)

Long ago, I learned a trick for writing stories. The first thing to do is to conjure up a river because then you have, immediately, the possibility of two basic plot complications: someone comes to town and/or someone leaves town. All you have to do is answer the questions “Who?” and “Why?” and you’re on your way? I don’t just mean Huck and Tom on their raft, think William Holden playing the drifter who breaks Kim Novak’s heart in the film Picnic and you’ve got the idea, for it’s the same story even if the river is replaced with an asphalt highway or a landing strip: Heraclitus is directing traffic, reminding us that, in fiction as in life, change is central to our human condition.