Author: Bryan Kemler

  • Rules of Writing: Round v Flat

    Characters become round through betrayal, and then acceptance of their shadow.  This is a difficult feat to pull off, and it is taxing on the reader, so it must pay-off.  Due to the energy expended in round characters, most characters must necesarily be flat. So, make flat characters pleasing by making them comfortable for the…

  • Rules of Writing – scene settings

      People lie about where they are from.  They claim whatever place makes them look best. Every detail has to have at least two, but preferably, three levels of meaning.  The material, the mental, and the middle.  Also, every detail must convey as much of the story as possible.  For example, the dust storm that…

  • The First Internet Election

    When Hilary lost against Obama in the 2008 primary, it was because the DNC silently pulled support from her.  Shortly thereafter, the DNC donors started silently shifting their support.  In other words, the big money left her for the Obama camp.  Hillary didn’t raise too much fuss about that in 2008 because she is a…

  • Sad little Bill Franklin

    Summary:  Ben had an illegitimate son named Bill, whom he acknowledged, raised and educated.  Of course, Bill became a Tory, since his own father was, after all, the greatest of Patriots.  The two men broke off relations over the political divide.  Bill was ultimately imprisoned, then freed, then left for England never to return to…

  • President Elias Boudinot

    Fourth President of the United States in Congress.  (1783) President Washington was not elected until 1789. Prior to then, there were ten elected presidents.  The one that is referenced in the prologue to American Savage is Elias Boudinot, and all-around good guy, and the fourth president of the new republic. Notably as president: He argued…

  • Definition Billow

    bil·low  (bĭl′ō) n. 1. A large wave or swell of water. 2. A great swell, surge, or undulating mass, as of smoke or sound. v. bil·lowed, bil·low·ing, bil·lows v.intr. 1. To surge or roll in billows. 2. To swell out or bulge: sheets billowing in the breeze. v.tr. To cause to billow: wind that billowed…

  • Mary Katherine Goddard -revolutionary reporter

    by Heather Frey Blanton Sometimes, the pen is mightier than the sword. Some women during the Revolutionary War did amazingly brave things. These women warriors rose to the level of their challenges… Source: Mary Katherine Goddard — Daughter of the Revolution and Forerunner to Lois Lane?

  • Definition Churlish

    churl·ish  (chûr′lĭsh) adj. 1. Of, like, or befitting a churl; boorish or vulgar. 2. Having a bad disposition; surly: “as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear” (Shakespeare). 3. Difficult to work with, such as soil; intractable.

  • Definition Exonym

    ex·o·nym  (ĕk′sō-nĭm) n. A name by which one people or social group refers to another and by which the group so named does not refer to itself.