from Dances With Trout:
i’ve never thought of myself as one to go through hell and go ‘heh heh, that’ll make a great story’ (i met a lot of those folks in creative writing classes at the U). if it’ll make a great story, it was probably an interesting piece of life. it’s either worth writing about or worth talking about, but probably not both. talk is cheap. there are the kinds of stories that i can not talk about with anybody. the things that happen to you that are too beautiful (a green hillside in the rockies) or too frightening (a bad car accident) to chat about. but they are well kept in the heart and they are part of life and if i’m given enough years those things should seep into the larger story and be worthwhile.
a fish, a day fishing, a big fish, a difficult fish, is the exception. fishing provides infinite fodder for story, verbal or written. fishing provides ample opportunity for reflection during the course of the action. the stories melt together and become part of the larger narrative. there are important observations about biology, weather, the wild, water, animals, fish behavior, human behavior, friendship, etc that can fuel a lifetime. there is humor (because after all, it is oafish man trying to trick a ghostly fish into biting onto that sharp hook.
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