Kevin Singer's Blog

The challenge: write a short story in 20 minutes using the following: Characters: Haunted house historian, Dumb blonde Genre: Steampunk Setting: A church Trope: Curse of the pharaoh POV/tense: 3rd/future The result: Veronica Cespides will fume with hate for her hair. She’d gotten it dyed by a new woman in her salon, a woman who […]

Obsession is one of the most talked about movies in recent times. What’s left to say about it? I’ve got a couple things… First, the basics. Obsession is an indie horror movie written and directed by Curry Barker, produced for $750,000 that could hit a $300 million gross. Insane. The premise is straightforward and not […]

I’m a fan of short titles. One word is the ideal for me. The reasoning is, if you can boil the essence of your story into as few letters as possible, you’ve got some skill on display. So what explains this story of mine, The History of Value Shopping in 12st-Century America, which is probably […]

The challenge: write a short story in 20 minutes using the following: Characters: Long Island Real Estate Agent, Archaeologist Genre: Comedy Setting: Mount Vesuvius Trope: Talking animal POV/tense: 1st/future And the result: “You can’t go wrong. Seaside views. Beautiful ocean breezes. And look at these vineyards.” Loretta DiChiara will wave a manicured, overtanned, overjeweled arm […]

Sometimes you need a little blood to make a story come alive. I’m not recommending you take out a razorblade and cut yourself, or someone else, but do it metaphorically. I used this mindset in the crafting of my short story, Little Lamb, which was just published here by Epoque Press. The story follows Drew […]

The challenge: write a short story in 20 minutes using the following: Characters: Fashion victim, A foul-mouthed parrot Genre: Fan fiction Setting: Midtown Manhattan Trope: The last thing I remember POV/tense: 2nd/past And the result: You’ve been stabbed a total of seven times. The first time by your gay boyfriend Billy and Stu at that […]

If you’re lucky, some stories come at you all of a sudden like an electric shock. The premise blazes in your brain. The bones of the architecture rise. All in a single moment. This is what happened to me for my horror story, Time Turns Blood to Dust, just published here in the magazine Uncharted. […]

The challenge: write a short story in 20 minutes using the following: Characters: Heroic dog, Oscar-winning actor Genre: True Crime Setting: The set of the movie Titanic Trope: Body double POV/tense: Writer’s choice And the result: On a sunny Tuesday morning, Hollywood legend Kathy Bates was found bludgeoned to death underneath the Kraft services table […]

I tend to write stories in groups, as in I have specific themes I want to convey, or things I want to say, and it takes me a bit of prose to work it all out. These past several months I’ve been working on three stories, three very different characters in three very different circumstances […]

The challenge: write a short story in 20 minutes using the following: Characters: Madonna and a mafia boss Genre: Coming of age Setting: CIA headquarters Trope: Broken-down vehicle POV/tense: Second/present And the result: Like a Virgin The only thing you ever wanted to be was a CIA spook, just like your father. But here you […]