Kevin Singer's Blog, page 2

Power Prompts, Episode 1

Here’s a new exercise: power prompts. These are timed exercises that center around a specific writing theme. This one was about Character Perspective, which is what a specific character is seeing in the story. This contrasts with Point of View, which is how is the story being narrated. [NOTE: There are three POVs: first person […]

Anatomy of a Story: One More Darrell

Someone once said books beget books. I can’t find out who. I thought it was Virginia Woolf, and since I read and really liked Mrs. Dalloway, I’ll go with her. In my case, short stories beget short stories, or more specifically, a throwaway line in a story included in an anthology on time travel was […]

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch Part 4: Hits and Misses

(Here’s the latest in my sporadically spaced BSG Rewatch. Click the links for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.) Two decades is good for perspective. We have a moment to breathe, to take in a new view (literally; the world around us changes), and we can look back at something with fresh eyes. So […]

Anatomy of a story: Splinter

When thinking about writing this piece you’re reading at this very moment I struggled to find the correct word to use to describe a specific type of incident. Every word I could come up with felt wrong, and for a writer, that’s one of the most frustrating feelings. So I gave up searching for that […]

Trope or Choke: Episode 12

The challenge: write a complete story in 500 words or less following these guidelines: Setting: An operating room Genre: Amish romance + Medical mystery Trope: Decoding ancient texts Characters: Acrophobic five-year-old math genius + Martian POV: 2nd/future The result: Oddity You’ll record these moments in your mind. You’ll transcribe them. For her. For posterity. The […]

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch Part 3: Major Themes

(For Part 1, see here; for Part 2, see here.) Some years ago I wrote a post asking if Battlestar Galactica was too religious. To this day it remains one of my most popular pieces. Controversial, too. Not because of the meat of the post itself but because some people just don’t like religion. At […]

Trope or Choke: Episode 11

The challenge: write a complete story in 500 words or less following these guidelines*: Setting: Outer space Genre: Solar punk + Reddit comment thread Trope: Sweating like a whore in church Characters: Morally bankrupt real estate agent + Used tire saleswoman POV: 3rd/past *Note: writer’s choice to ignore two elements. The result: Everyone Has Their […]

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch Part 2: Old vs New

(For Part 1 in this series on the Battlestar Galactica reboot, click here) When I was a kid I hated Jimmy Carter for one reason: he got the Israelis and the Egyptians to sign a peace deal, and the televised signing of that peace deal interrupted the 1978 premiere of the original Battlestar Galactica. I […]

Trope or Choke: Episode 10

The challenge: write a complete story in 500 words or less following these guidelines: Setting: Australia when it was a penal colony Genre: True crime + middle grade Trope: Up shit’s creek without a paddle Characters: Conspiracy theorist + World’s most annoying superhero POV: First/Future The result: One Last Cigarette I’ll be on my way […]

Battlestar Galactica Rewatch Part 1: History of the Reboot

Even when it first appeared in 2003, the reboot of the classic 1970s series Battlestar Galactica was considered an instant classic, and not just by me. Part of that success had to do with the megawatt casting of two Oscar nominees, Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell in the leads, and part had to do […]