Writing and Publishing Fiction

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka speaks personally to me. On some levels, I can relate to Gregor Samsa. First, Gregor Samsa is a fictional character, and I am a fictional character. We were both human and then we changed. In Gregor's case, the change was a monstrous verminous bug that fits the description of a cockroach. I am now a mouse.

Gerald Freund, fictional character in mouse form

Gregor Samsa, fictional character
in verminous bug form

I suppose that between the two, you might think I got the better deal. That is only natural. At first glance, many would rather be a cute white and brown mouse rather than a giant cockroach. Keep in mind, however, that cockroaches can do some amazing things like run around without a head and survive a nuclear holocaust. How well do you think you or I would survive a beheading or a nuclear winter? Not well at all.

Some time ago, I signed up for July Novel Writing Month, which of course, is a writing contest identical to National Novel Writing Month, held in November. What are all of these novel writing months? The goal of these contests is to write a 50,000 word novel. The prize is having written a 50,000 word novel.

My specialty has been short stories, so this contest should be particularly challenging. I will be on a sabbatical of sorts as I focus my time and energy on this challenge. Don't worry, I will continue to post to Unpublished Guy, documenting my journey in the spirit of Captain Robert Scott's race to the South Pole and Sir John Franklin's 1854 Expedition to discover the Northwest Passage.

Also, expect to see several guest bloggers posting in their areas of writing and publishing expertise.

When Vladimir Nabokov was asked whether he had read Franz Kafka’s The Trial before writing Invitation to a Beheading, Nabokov insisted that he had not. Having read Invitation to a Beheading, the basic premise is so similar—a man awaits execution for a crime that is never made clear—it is difficult to take his word for it. It doesn’t help that Lolita may have been intentionally or subconsciously plagiarized from a short story.

If I hadn’t had my own (possibly Jungian collective) subconscious plagiarism or influence, I would think it was fairly obvious that Nabokov had first read the trial. (Perhaps you have your own example of cryptomnesia?)