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RE: Cotton Rain (150-word Flash Fiction; Entry for DHS 5SBD Contest)
This is a very interesting prose-piece-verging-on-poetry, laden with surreal images. It starts out dreamlike and only becomes more so as the story progresses, evoking a state of consciousness very different from our everyday experience of waking life. What holds my attention as I read are the emotional reactions of the protagonist. This is the through line, as the events described become increasingly surreal. Really cool experimental piece, I agree with @authorfriendly's Kafka comparison.
Seems like I do have to google Kafka! Am I the only one here without a deep knowledge of literature? hides face.
Jokes aside, thank you for the comment. I appreciate it as I know what worked. Surrealism may be hard to keep track of; so holding you through the protagonist's emotion is an achievement :D It is definitely verging on poetry, as that is what I am used to writing(successfully). Probably, it is more surreal and more poetic than most of my poetry. It is a great experience to break our barriers, explore further, as well as to be inspired by other writers like you :D
I love it that we're being inspired to push beyond our own comfort zones here. And I love that line between poetry and fiction, it can produce some really powerful work.
A book that to me exemplifies this line beautifully is "Beast" by Francesca Lia Block (a collection of short pieces retelling fairy tales). Her writing is minimalist and lavishly imagistic, dreamlike and brutally real. Worth checking out.
As to Kafka... his work is so unique that there's even an adjective derived from it: https://www.google.com/search?q=kafkaesque&oq=kafkaesque&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3040j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Well worth checking out too :)
It intrigues me. Well, I will have to find some time to explore Kafka and maybe Lia Block as well!