Kevin Kaiser

* I’m a little late in posting this, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me. As you all know, I started a short story a couple weeks ago that I asked you to finish. I narrowed the field down to two finalists, Jake Chism and Cory Clubb, and you guys voted for the winner, which turned out to be Cory. Below is the complete story, which we put together. Not a lot of editing took place, so it’s still rough, but I wanted you to see how it turned out.

The Gamble

Kevin Kaiser & Cory Clubb

Lauren was in that thin place between waking and dying when her body heaved with a loud gasp. Her eyes snapped wide to a dark world that was cold and silent except for the tick of the engine. Brittle air, ice cold, filled her lungs and and awakened pain that sliced through every part of her body. But pain meant feeling, and feeling meant that she was alive.

She blinked, eyes drifted right then left. Smudges and blurred shadow just  beyond reach filled the world, but her mind caught up quickly and forms and lines emerged then forced themselves into place. She was in a car. Her car. She hung from the driver’s seat, her weight held by a taut seatbelt that cut deep across the chest. Gravity beckoned, but the strap kept her from tumbling through the crackled skin that had once been the windshield. To her right, the glass had crumpled and given way to a wide hole on the passenger’s side.

The man. Continue Reading…

Such imaginations, my friends. First of all, kudos. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with some of the twists you came up with–everything from a MacGyver-esque escape to having Lauren cut her own hand off (almost) to, well, drowning her in the frigid river waters (not all stories can have happy endings).

All of the submissions are worthy stories, and they each took a turn that I hadn’t thought of the way you did. But, as all things like this go, I had to choose.

Or I tried to. Honestly, I had a hard time choosing one. Instead I narrowed it down to two that I think were a little closer to the mark for me in terms of narrative, style, and imagination. Those two are Jake Chism’s submission and Cory Clubb’s.

Now, here’s the deal…I’m split dead even between them. But, I have a solution: I’m going to let the rest of you judge between your two fellow storytellers.

We’ll do it secret ballot style and I’ll be the tie breaking vote. Read the two story segments then email me (kevin dot kaiser@creativetrust.com) with your vote: JAKE or CORY. I’ll compile the results and make the announcement tomorrow.

You guys rock. I’m glad you all have decided to work at your craft and are putting your stuff out there.

Looking forward to your votes. Be heard. We can’t keep these guys hanging for too long. : )

Here’s a fun experiment and writing exercise for us. I’ve started a story for our little group here about a young woman named Lauren. It is about 470 words long, a mere introduction to her dilemma. What I’d like you to do (talking my writer friends now), is take this intro and add to it. Build the story out how you think it should go, but your word count and mine together can only be 1,200 words at most. The story doesn’t have to wrap up, though you can do so if you want.

Post your continuation of the story in the comments section along with a title. Try to write free form and don’t take a lot of time to edit or over-think it at first. I took about an hour to work this out. The idea is to just get it down. After we’re all done I’ll choose my favorite, then we’ll edit it together and post the complete co-authored story online.

Cool?  Click READ MORE below to get started. Have fun. Continue Reading…