TWBBookClub Evaluation April/May: Reading Franz Kafka

#TWBBookClub Evaluation April/May: Reading Franz Kafka

As writers, we love to read. But how do you learn from reading as writers? That’s the question we’re exploring in the Book Club at @thewritersblock.

In April/May we read short stories by Franz Kafka (see the reasons why in this post published at the beginning of April 2018).

Here are some responses by members who were involved this month:

@alheath

@alheath wrote a short story called ‘Paws’, taking inspiration from Kafka’s short novel ‘Metamorphosis’.

“Before Book Club, I had never heard of Franz Kafka, so this month was a good opportunity to broaden my reading horizons. I chose The Metamorphosis, one of Kafka's earlier books about a travelling salesman who undergoes a somewhat alarming change. This inspired a story of my own, Paws.

I enjoyed it, and Kafka's simple yet intriguing writing style made the story engaging and interesting for me. Admittedly, some of the sentences were a little longer than I would have liked and there were occasions where I had to focus more than usual to keep up with the story. But overall, I would read this again.

Thanks to the Book Club, I've found another author to explore and yet more books to read, which is never a bad thing. Looking forward to seeing what next month's choice will be!”

@anikekirsten

@anikekirsten wrote a post about characterisation by Franz Kafka in ‘Metamorphosis’.

Taking to a short story in order to glean the aspects of writing that would teach something to the writer is more challenging than a novel. And this I discovered the hard way. While "The Metamorphosis" is a long-form short story, the mechanics Kafka employed were more subtle and yet abrupt. I read the story 3 times before I figured out what I wanted to focus on learning from the work.

But it was fairly obvious to me, by the third reading, that Kafka understood his characters. Not only the main character, but each one that appears in the story. When I focused on that intimate knowledge Kafka had of them, I realised that I learned something crucial. The relatability of Kafka's characters were done by bringing in the "human variable", so to speak. His characters seemed real because he made them real. It’s not a lesson I will soon forget and will be employing the humanising to my own as a result.

@nobyeni

@nobyeni wrote a short story inspired by a less well-known short story by Kafka, called ‘Being Unhappy’.

This month we read short stories by Kafka, something I had never really done. I read some of his main works, like Metamorphosis, but never really ventured into his short stories. As I’ve been exploring the world of fiction writing lately, and especially the short-story form, it was about time to dive in.

And I was very pleasantly surprised. There is a specific air to his stories, a lightness and a scent of deeper meaning that is not always easy to pry out of them at a first reading. But even his very short stories made impressed me a lot. This time I decided not to write a non-fiction review, but use his approach for a short story of my own. My own setting, my own characters, but the same built-up of the story somehow.

#TWBBookClub Continues

Stay tuned for the announcement of the next pick for #TWBBookClub for May/June! We will be reading a book this time, available in public domain, so no-one has a good excuse to not join in! The new book will be announced very soon, follow @thewritersblock to not miss any updates.

Everyone is very welcome to join, to read, to share their experiences as writers who read… and of course to partake of the other aspects of @thewritersblock, such as the peer-review workshops and the writer exercises. Just click on the graphic below to join!

@nobyeni