Kevin Singer's Blog

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 […]

What makes a horror movie truly great?  That’s not an easy question. Off the top of my head it’s got to be scary, innovative, well acted, well written, visually interesting. Some of the horror flicks that make this greatness level for me would include, Night of the Living Dead, Alien, Hereditary and Pearl, just to name […]

The challenge: write a short story in 20 minutes using the following: Characters: Pretty little devil and Stephen King Genre: Alternate history Setting: A boxing ring Trope: Devil in my ear POV/tense: Third/present And the result: Underground “You know you want to do this, don’t you, Stevie boy?” she says as she strolls among the […]

The origin story for my recently published piece, Envy, a User’s Guide (published here at Eulogy Press) is on one hand simple, and on the other hand, hard as hell. Several months ago I took an online workshop on microfiction. What’s microfiction? It’s one of the latest in a series of subcategories of literature, mostly … … Continue reading →

We’re back for another round. The challenge: write a story in 20 minutes using the following prompts: Characters: Heart surgeon and Astronaut Setting: A wine cellar Genre: Cozy mystery Trope: A very cheap date POV/tense: Third person future And the result: The Case of the Orange Feather It will be Betty who first notices the […]