Verisimilitude

A fictional universe can be one story or many. Continuity is an issue either way. Consistency validates and inconsistency invalidates. Effects are meaningless if regardless of cause.

I write fiction. I create imaginary universes. I make the effort to maintain continuity. I do make mistakes. I correct directly, by changing what I wrote, or indirectly, by crafting an explanation in later stories.

Continuity is important whether a story is realistic or fantastic. Realism is dispelled without it. Fantasy is rendered simply ridiculous without it.

TO BE CLEAR: An alternate version of a fictional universe is its own universe, unless the fiction explains the imagined reality as a multiverse.

Consequences matter. A universe without consequences cannot be taken seriously. One with dire consequences can be, if explained logically.

My fiction is usually action-adventure. If it is horror, it is usually as survival horror. The stories are about life and death as an adventure. The heroes live and nameless baddies die. The villains live to muster more goons for the heroes to slaughter.

If I kill a hero or a villain, they stay dead. If they appear in another story, it is in a prequel. To do otherwise is to negate the consequence of death in the fiction. The entire universe loses its edge, becoming too safe to be taken seriously.

An imagined reality must be in the likeness of reality, whether in its image or not. The make-believe is unbelievable otherwise.

Making a Book Inside and Out

Writing a novel is not easy. You need an idea to start with. It shall change as you write it into a story. You must show what you mean with words, and words are not pictures. The reader must imagine what the words tell them.

Designing a cover for a novel is not easy. It must attract attention and hold it, to make people want to read the synopsis and flip through the pages. The font and illustration must have an immediate and a lasting effect on whoever glimpses them. The words and picture should match the story they represent.

I write books and illustrate the covers. I create the title fonts.

It took me fifty days to write the 66,266 word novel The Wayward School for Girls. I created the font in the meantime. I illustrated the cover in a day. I edited the manuscript and cover afterwards. I am never entirely satisfied. At some point I must finish the project. Deciding when is not easy. Lingering doubts bother me until I am preoccupied with the next project.

Writing a book is hard work. Illustrating its cover is hard work. Creating its title font is hard work. Doing all of them myself is especially hard work.

I have been told that I am wasting time creating fonts when countless fonts are already available. I am told my covers would be better if professional artists illustrated them. Alas, I yearn to do what I do even if wasting my time to make something amateurish.

My writing began as drawings. My creativity has come full circle. Though never satisfied as no artist ever is, I am satisfied at heart. My work is my own, and that means everything.

Tales of Courageous Terror

Our favorite legends are heroic or scary. Our favorite fiction is likewise. We love stories that thrill us, especially when they are about life and death.

My favorite stories are heroic and scary, especially when they are weird. The protagonists may seem ordinary at first but prove extraordinary by surviving strange horrors. They slaughter the monsters that normally slaughter normal people with pathetic ease.

Ambient horror is my favorite. Suspense is secondary. Shock is tertiary. I bask in a gloomy setting that is eerily silent or I hear strange noises. I prefer long moments of uneasy tranquility to the thrills of sudden terror.

My favorite monsters are normal people. They are dehumanized by the evil, one way or another. They are scary because what happened to them can happen to anyone. We realize the people we know can be turned against us.

There should be sexiness in fiction, both in its pictures and its story. Beautiful girls assure this quality, no matter their roles a characters. They are usually protagonists as victims or the heroine. They are sometimes the villains. They are seldom the monsters.

Strange or ugly can be sexy.

Women with soulless black eyes are unsettling but still attractive. Their strangeness adds to our interest. A deathly complexion, a monstrous countenance, horns or fangs are all weird but can make a comely form especially interesting. Bodies can be sexy whether dead, undead or alive.

The best story is an actual story. Its characters have parts to play in a grand scheme. There is a point to everything. The obvious and subtle alike are meaningful.

An action-adventure as a horror story is about a hero against monsters. Unlike most people, the protagonist is prey that kills his predators. He may be on a quest to save the world… or someone he loves… or himself. He may be clueless but resourceful. His adventure is what it is regardless: a terrifying test of his prowess.

My Wayward Novel

The most popular fiction is about people killing other people. The context varies greatly. Murder is the theme of the very distinct genres of mystery and horror. Combat is the theme of war dramas and action-adventures alike.

I wrote a novel about little girls killing droves of baddies. They slay monsters, cyborgs and lunatics. Most of their victims are normal people, however: boys and girls their own age. The boys are post-apocalyptic survivors that have become cannibalistic savages. The girls are brainwashed foot soldiers of villainy.

In fiction: Men are the usual victims of combat deaths. Women are the favorite victims of murders. Children are slaughtered in droves in reality, but seldom in fiction.

I wrote what I wrote reluctantly. I did worry about mindless backwash, mindful that it could incite self-righteous indignation from those who would not read it. My biggest problem was my own sensibilities, however. Context is everything. Making it appropriate for children to kill and be killed, even as fiction proved difficult.

Honesty is the best policy, especially when writing something innately questionable. I solved the problem quite simply: I wrote about how adults turn children into thralls. The means of indoctrination is primarily through public education, so the story is about a school. The brainwashed children grow up to be the foot soldiers of causes not their own, hence, girls as the foot soldiers of villainy. Boys are more apt to become angry by the methods that work on girls, so become criminals, as in savages.

The Wayward School for Girls is written. I have illustrated its cover. I shall see what comes of this strangely violent novel. I am pleased with the product regardless. It was a labor of love. I am better than anyone who would hate it.

Eyes that See and Ears that Hear

I am a middle-aged man told by a teenage girl that I am a “genius as a giant toddler.” She explained that though I am intellectually brilliant, I am naïve and whimsical. She asked if I was ever diagnosed as autistic. She assured me months later that she “respects” me.

The young woman recently accused me of being “morally dyslexic” and said I had a “gray” view of things.

The girl is popular with her peers and respected by her elders. She is studious and athletic. She does not smoke and I assume she does not abuse other substances either, though she may occasionally drink alcohol.

This teenager has been in my life as a co-worker for over a year, maybe two. She asked me questions no one ever does. She listened to my answers. She is amazingly insightful.

I do not care about right or wrong, legal or illegal, moral or immoral. Honor and loyalty mean nothing to me. I am not guided by principals. I do not fret decency.

I am sincere. I act according to my sincerity, regardless of all else. My compassion is unreasonable. I never forsake but I never forgive. I never betray. I never make a promise unless pressured to do so. I shall break my word if it suits me, and without hesitation. Threats provoke me, whether I can defend against them or not.

I am not fascinated by the insightful girl because of her. I am amazed that I was noticed. People tell me I am intense, but they do not know why. They assume I am like them. They see themselves rather than me.

Wayward

My pending novel The Wayward School for Girls was not meant to be a novel. It was supposed to be a short story. It grew as I wrote it. As of today, March 22, 2024, it is over forty-seven thousand words long. Yet another chapter is necessary to finish the book. Then again, “one more chapter” is how this short story became so long.

Imagine Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and Alice from Alice in Wonderland as best friends. Carrie from Carrie is their age and goes to the same school.

The story is surreal horror as an action-adventure. The principal of the school is a warlock and the teachers his coven. They indoctrinate the students into believing that “learning” is smart and thinking is stupid. The children are brainwashed as their education. Their “school projects” are them used as unpaid servants.

Alice, Dorothy and Carrie are in the “gifted” program. They are being groomed to become witches. Most of the other girls are used as labor or as guards. The “special needs” girls are buried alive and rendered undead, to power arcane devices.

Dorothy is the good girl. She is flattered to be considered gifted… but horrified when put to a test that nearly kills her. She realizes she is expected to become like the adults who put her in such a cruel situation.

Alice is the bad girl. She is already cynical, so is not surprised when put to a test that nearly kills her. She does not mind the horrible things that are expected of her… but resents that they are expected of her. She dislikes people trying to control her.

Carrie is a girl without friends. She submits to the evil of the school to have power over the world that rejects her.

The story is violent. Dorothy and Alice are the heroines. They slay monsters but they also slaughter the brainwashed girls sent against them. Carrie, a lonely girl is one of the villains.

There is a point to the weird novel I am writing. The message is not its social commentary. It is that FRIENDSHIP is the goodness in the world. The heroes are friends. The villains are enemies. The lukewarm many are victims of both.

Did I mention killing? There is a lot of killing.

Wholesome and Perverted Alike

It is assumed Jesus has the views of a prudish old woman. He created breasts and buttocks yet has no interest in breasts and buttocks.

God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Father is God. The Holy Ghost is his Spirit, a thing he breathes for inspiration. The Son is the Word of God, the breath of God as the Holy Spirit.

“And in that hour, this Son of Man was invoked before the Lord of Spirits and his name in the presence of the Ancient of Days. Before the sun and the signs were made, before the stars of the heavens were formed, his name was invoked before the Lord of Spirits.”

TRANSLATION…

“The Son was presented before the Holy Spirit and his name ‘Jesus’ in the presence of the Father. Before Lucifer was created or had a use, before the angels were formed, the name ‘Jesus’ was petitioned before the Holy Spirit.”

IN OTHER WORDS…

The source of everything was what it was before anything that began even existed, or had a reason to exist. The purpose of Creation is not within Creation itself, except as its Creator, Jesus.

AS I WAS SAYING…

The Lord is the lord of good and evil alike. All things wholesome or perverted are of his making. All of it is his.

When Jesus was baptized, he was filled with the Spirit. His thoughts and feelings were overwhelmed with unimaginable thoughts and feelings. The Spirit then led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil, to see whether good or evil came of the inspiration.

Thoughts and feelings are not good or evil. What comes of them is one or the other. To fret thoughts and feelings is to be like Peter: You shall sink into the turbulent and murky depths as he did. To make something of them is to be like Jesus: You shall change everything for the better.

https://www.deviantart.com/yellowplasma

The One True God

Our religions are used to control us… but so is law… and science… and entertainment… and eventually politics.

We are indoctrinated by our institutions. We side with a faction as if the rivalries for control are struggles of good against evil.

Cynicism comes naturally. If allowed to fester, it becomes nihilism.

What to do?

Care about yourself… and act accordingly. Defer gratification if it is detrimental to your well-being. Do what is actually best for you. Consider your talents and make the most of them.

Care about others… and act accordingly. Defer gratification if it is to their detriment, regardless of their consent or not. Do what is actually best for them… without controlling them. Appreciate their talents and support their efforts.

Believe in God. Atheism is nihilism, despite the sophistries to the contrary.

Which god?

Believe in the one true God… or else you are worshipping yourself, one way or another. If your god is the mortal and only human, you have only yourself to blame. Shame on you.

Believe in truth, not yourself. Pride is vanity. Do not live in vain. Humility is thoughtful. Actually think about things.

Have a thought entirely your own. Express it in words. If you cannot, you are mindless. Your thoughts are nothing of the sort: only what you are taught to think. You must think for yourself if you think to know God. You shall learn, with your own eyes and ears, that he is indeed the Truth.

Heroic or Not

The “hero” of antiquity was evil on the inside but excellent on the outside. His evil was not “evil” to the ancients, but rather normal. Sin was acceptable, so long as the sinner was loyal to the tribe and nation.

As a Christian ideal, the HERO is excellent inside and out. He is morally superior, not just a better warrior.

The “villain” of antiquity is someone against the tribe and nation. Good and evil have nothing to do with it.

As a Christian concept, the VILLAIN personifies evil. Even if he is sympathetic, his agenda is unfriendly to the innocent, regardless of the tribes and nations.

The “antihero” is the hero of antiquity from the modern perspective. The very idea of an “antihero” is entirely Christian, even among those who are not Christian.

Samson was a hero of the Old Testament as an antihero since the New Testament. He was not a villain, though he committed murder out of anger or to pay a debt.

Jesus favors heroes and villains. He prefers antiheroes to those who do nothing. Be fired up for him or cold against him. If you are lukewarm, he shall spit you out of his mouth.

Imagined Value

Art is meaningful if it has something to say. It is assumed a political message is most important, but that is untrue. We are most effected by what makes us think about our own lives.

Grandiosity is not what you are about. The Big Picture is not your portrait. It is the common things that define you. The most important things in your life are the least important in the world.

You are lost in the crowd. Your friends and family are lost in the crowd. When the world needs slaves, you are enslaved. When the world is at war, you are its cannon-fodder.

The people in your life are special to you, not to the world. You are special to them, not to the world. STOP fretting the world!

I write books and illustrate the covers. The stories and pictures are always about the unimportance of people. It is usually in the context of heroes killing nameless baddies. It is often about antiheroes or villains committing the recreational murder of strangers.

The heroes and villains are the main characters. Unlike us, they are important. We are their easy victims. Losing ourselves in the crowd is our only way to survive them.

LOVE and FRIENDSHIP are what make YOUR life meaningful. They are the meaningful themes of art and fiction accordingly. None of the others matter without them. They distinguish pornography from romance, for example. They make violence heroic and death tragic. They can sublimate anger and hatred into morally satisfying drama.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Shawn-OToole/author/B07C28S75Z?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Goodness Personified

What is wrong with the world?

Poverty? Famine? War? Disease? Inequality? Racism? Sexism?

NO!

The results of the problem are not the problem.

Evil is in the heart. It is nowhere else. An evil thought is in the mind but only as a thought. The actual evil is within the person as the person.

The very idea of “social justice” is the notion that good and evil are external. They are thoughts affirmed by those who do the thinking for you.

Actual justice is entirely personal. It is indistinguishable from freedom except as a concept, which is neither, for concepts are thoughts. If our opinions decide good and evil then those in power decide what is good or evil because only their opinions matter.

How do you treat people when you have power over them? Do you brag about your power? Do you use it to control these people? Do you expect them to acknowledge that you have power over them?

Unlike you, the Holy Spirit does not have power. He is power, all of it. He is the Lord of Spirits because he is very thing that effects everything. He is also goodness itself.

It is assumed by this world of sin that evil is stronger than good. This is because the sinners rationalize their evil as goodness. They have a right to be thieves and murderers, for whatever reason.

The Holy Spirit is unreasonable. Your wages of sin are death whether you had a right to sin or not. You shall burn for your wickedness, because you are flammable for it. Blaming others shall not avail you, for the Lord of Spirits does not hear you. He does not see you. You are not even a “blip” on his “radar” for he is everything and you are nothing.

The Son of Man is your only hope. He is goodness as a man. He is the Holy Spirit as the one who sees and hears you. He is the Ancient of Days as your friend.

Heaven and Hell on Earth

A fear of nuclear weapons is sensible. They are the only technology in all of history that can destroy civilization. They can render humanity extinct. They are not why war is horrible, however. It was horrible when the weapons were sticks and stones.

Dozens killed in a war between villages of hundreds is just as bad as millions killed in a war between nations of tens of millions. Huts being burned to ash is as horrible as cities being bombed into rubble.

Wars are not worse than they have ever been. More people are killed and more things are destroyed, but proportionate to how many people and things there are.

You can argue statistics. You may say I am wrong because a greater percentage of this or that during then or now, blah, blah, blah. My claim is true regardless.

If your world is your village, is its destruction not the Apocalypse?

One man stabbed or shot does not feel less pain than many men stabbed or shot. His few loved ones are not less sad than the many loved ones of the many.

The Great Tribulation shall be the worse time ever. It shall end with a war worse than all others. Civilization shall be in ruins and humanity on the verge of extinction. What makes this moment hell on earth is not the death and destruction, though they shall be hellish.

GOODNESS is the peace beyond all understanding. It shall be taken from the earth. The god of this world cannot take over this world until goodness is taken out of the way. Wo unto you if you are still here when that happens.

Lambs Gathered for the Slaughter

The common folk are called “lazy” by those who work them to death. They are called “greedy” by those who pay them little while raising the price of everything. They are sent to kill people like themselves by the rich and powerful.

FEUDALISM failed because it was the few with much and the many with very little. CAPITALISM is failing because it is the few taking much and leaving the many very little. SOCIALISM fails because it is the few having everything in the name of the many who have nothing.

NATIONALISM SOCIALISM failed because it was overwhelmed by the capitalists and the socialists, who teamed up against it.

FACTS: National Socialism was vastly outnumbered and outgunned by enemies that could attack from all sides. It lacked resources its enemies did not. It killed more than twice as many soldiers than it lost.

I judge a tree by the fruit it bears. I cannot judge a system that collapses from within as superior to a system that was crushed from the outside, especially when the vanquished held its own against impossible odds. The defeat of the weak is not to its shame if the strong must struggle to win.

FACT: The “good guys” murdered civilians to provoke the killing of their own civilians… to stir their common folk into hating the common folk of elsewhere.

I was tricked by the capitalists into believing hard work was better than laziness. I learned my lesson when I was fired for sustaining an injury while the slackers kept their jobs doing nothing. I almost lost everything. It was my friends who delivered me from the evil of capitalism.

I am assured by the socialists that my life will be better if I gave them everything. I disbelieve them for they are the same rich they complain about. I shall not heed those who denounce capitalism from the comfort of their mansions.

The world of CAPITALISM and SOCIALISM is unraveling.

Why did we fight that war again? Is the world really better for it? Is it ever for OUR sakes? Enough is enough already.

Four of Seven Black Deaths

I have finished writing the first four of my seven Black Death books. I have already illustrated all seven covers.

The countless hours of hard work are not for instant gratification.

The premise is two big and black sisters kill white girls for fun. They do so with impunity. Villains are introduced and the sisters stop them, by killing droves of white henchwomen.

The theme is not social commentary. It is erotica. The sexiness is the girls and the violence.

The victims are not tortured. Their deaths are not gruesome. The point is to grimly amuse, not to shock or disgust.

Black Death is not a black comedy. It is action-adventure, but as the adventures of antiheroes. The humorous moments are to laugh at ourselves, not at the story itself.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Death-White-Women-ebook/dp/B0C14VBGPP/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=shawn+o%27toole&s=books&sr=1-8

Heart of the Sorcerer

I am writing a novel about a man who mass-murders people. He argues that his victims are “useless eaters” or “anti-social parasites” or “sub-humans.” His teenage daughter is in love with him. She wants to murder her mother, out of jealousy.

The novel is Sorcerer of the Realm. The man is the Sorcerer. His daughter is the Enchantress. They are the villains of their story… but not really.

Moral ambiguity is because “good” people are evil, not because goodness is ambiguous.

Arnold Kess is the Sorcerer. He wants to do what is right. He is willing to do whatever he must, whether he wants to or not. There is no extreme too extreme if it ultimately makes things better. He kills people to cleanse the world, not to be cruel.

Elsa Kess is the Enchantress. She wants to do what makes her happy, regardless of right or wrong. There is no extreme too extreme to get what she wants. She kills people because she wants to, sometimes to be cruel.

Arnold and Elsa are the perfect couple. The man is entirely “balance” and the girl entirely “flow” and together they are both. He leads and she faithfully follows. His genius and her passion change the world, for better or worse.

Arnold and Elsa do what they do together… yet he is “good” and she is evil. Everyone else benefits or suffers regardless.

Arnold is willing to sacrifice the innocent. He does not want to, but he shall do what he must, no matter what. His decisions are logical, thus righteous because they are inarguably right. Compassion is not a matter of right or wrong, however. Mercy is illogical more often than not.

Elsa loves her father and is loyal to him. She is willing to die for him. She does what is right to please him, not to do what is right. Her devotion is selfish, even when selfless. He gives her a sense of purpose she does not have without him.

The point of the story is that good and evil are not matters of right or wrong. They are entirely personal, and I do not mean as opinions. The heart of the individual is the heart of the matter. Everything else is just backdrop.

https://www.deviantart.com/yellowplasma/journal/A-Man-and-His-Daughter-999292541

Seeds of Genius

It is easy to imagine but difficult to create.

I write books and illustrate the covers. I start with an idea. It totally works in my mind… but then I try to articulate it into words or render it as an illustration.

People know I am a writer and an artist. They share ideas with me, telling me I am allowed to use their ideas or suggesting I write them into fiction as a collaborative work.

Reality is unaccommodating, even when it comes to fiction. A story must make sense, no matter its nonsense. Its characters must be believable, no matter how strange they may be. An illustration must look like something familiar, no matter how strange the subject, or the picture is not really a picture.

Art is craftsmanship. It is real, even when fantasy. Like all things crafted, it can be of high or low quality. I love what I do, thus, my art is a labor of love.

The unimaginative sometimes criticize my imagination. They scoff that my creations are inspired rather than original. They cannot relate to what I do because they do nothing.

I am an artist because I fell in love with art. I write books because I enjoyed reading them. I illustrate the covers because I appreciated the covers of what I read. I was inspired by the works of others. That inspiration becomes what I write and render.

https://www.deviantart.com/yellowplasma/journal/My-Artful-Erotica-1008380476

Sexy Sameness

My parents went to Le Crazy Horse de Paris in the 1980s. My mother complained that all the dancing girls looked alike. She remarked, “Who wants to see a bunch of clones?” I did. I was fascinated by what she told me, wishing I had been there.

I have a strange interest. My favorite fictional characters are the foot soldiers of villainy. I generally prefer them to be comely women uniformed in alluring costumes. I especially fancy them if they are identical clone women.

DIVERSITY kills my interest in my favorite of all archetypes. Male or female, they must all be of the same race and have the same stature, physique and complexion.

I do fancy clones because they look alike. I do mean the fictional clones of humans, of course. They are unrealistically cheap and easy to mass-produce. They are spawned as adults.

I write fiction and illustrate its book covers. My stories are not about the nameless baddies… but the nameless baddies are why I write them.

One thing fiction and non-fiction have in common is that they can be either true or untrue. A non-fiction is untrue if its facts are wrong, deliberately or by mistake. Fiction is untrue if the storyteller is insincere.

A fantasy is whatever we imagine. A fiction is fantasy, regardless of its realism. It is sincere if true to the fancies of the storyteller. It is false if otherwise. If the story is a sophistry rather than a written daydream, it is a lie.

The foot soldiers of villainy are the common folk imagined as antagonists. Making them female is to make them sexy. Doing so is generally a good idea since the archetype is typically uninteresting.

There is a deeper reason I am fascinated by the idea that the foot soldiers of villainy are clones. The characters, male or female are nonentities. They are mere extensions of nefarious entities who have no qualms expending them. The nonentities are indoctrinated to believe that thinking for themselves is foolish and acting in their own interests is selfish. By denying themselves, they lose their individuality. They become… clones.

https://www.deviantart.com/yellowplasma/journal/Identical-Young-and-Doomed-1006241158

The Words are the Story

You can judge a book by its cover… but you are only guessing until you actually read the book.

I write books. I illustrate the covers. You are judging my work whether you read the books or not. You see the covers and assume things.

My Black Death series shows black hands killing white women. What do you assume?

Most things are what they appear to be. It would be stupid to assume otherwise. It would bring our lives to a halt to thoroughly examine everything.

I bothered to write books and illustrate the covers. I created the title font. Human nature is lazy… yet I was not. You can assume, without knowing anything else, that there was a point to bother. Maybe you should too.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Death-White-Women-ebook/dp/B0C14VBGPP/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=shawn+o%27toole&s=books&sr=1-8

Creative Freedom

I am an artist. My art is writing books and illustrating the covers. It is composing music.

I am adamantly opposed to anything that limits what I am allowed to write or render. Calling my work “pornography” or “sexist” or “racist” or whatever else does not shame me. I rebuke those who dare to rebuke me. If my work is banned, I hate anyone and everyone who banned it. I become the enemy of their institutions and shall act against them. I become the best friend of their enemies.

My job is not my life. My art is my life.

Money is resources as currency. It is the outside. My art is made of things on the outside, but the art itself is entirely from within. It is my thoughts and feelings as waking dreams.

https://www.deviantart.com/yellowplasma/journal/Describe-Your-Work-989809993