Of all the chapters in the finished novel it is the least revised. Those first 10 pages, starting with that four-word sentence, ended up being the second chapter of After River. So I followed where those characters led. I had the immediate feeling that this could be the beginning of a novel. But I did like the characters, the entire family, who showed up. Ten pages later I still hadn't mentioned those two. I had expected those four words to be the lead-in to a short story with the main characters being a priest and a confessor. What came out was completely different from where I thought I was going with it when I sat down. I mentally played with the 'what ifs' of the aftermath of that incident then went inside and used those four words as the start to a free writing exercise. Mulling those words over and over, I recalled an incident that happened to someone I knew briefly in the 1960s. A four-word sentence popped into my mind early one morning when I was outside working in the garden. What was the inspiration for After River?Īfter River started out more or less as a writing exercise. Read on to find out more about the book and her inspirations. The Canadian Living Book Club pick for June is After River by author Donna Milner.
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