Two Novels Inspired by Two Movies

Since childhood, I have been fascinated by dreamlike survival horror stories. The interest was inspired by my interpretation of the movies Alice in Wonderland (1951) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).

I wrote novels that are mature expressions of my childhood fancy. I finished The Goddess of Self in 2017 and The Wayward School for Girls in 2024. They are very similar... yet very different.

The Goddess of Self is about a girl from our world who travels back and forth between reality and an alternate reality. What is normal to us is normal to her. What is weird to us is weird to her. She is our representative. The novel is very much like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz in this regard.

The Wayward School for Girls is about girls native to an alternate reality. What is weird to us is normal to them. They are as strange as anything else in the story.

The protagonists of The Wayward School for Girls are “Alice” of Alice in Wonderland and “Dorothy” of The Wizard of Oz... but as girls in the modern day. They have special powers based on their strange abilities in their original fiction.

The Goddess of Self is my version of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. It is not fan-fiction, however. It is original.

Though the protagonists of The Wayward School for Girls were inspired by those of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, the story is not. It is my actual dreams, my nightmares specifically, but turned into fiction with “Alice” and “Dorothy” instead of myself as the main characters.

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Heroic Nightmares

When I dream, the fantasy is reality. The weirdness is normal. None of it is strange until I fully awaken.

I write fiction, and have since childhood. I am inspired by my dreams. I crafted my Weird World universe to be a reality like the one I live in while asleep.

My favorite dreams are nightmares. Though terrible while I sleep, they prove inspiring when I awaken. My best fiction is because of them. Weird World is the horror genre accordingly.

My most inspiring dreams were during childhood. The best of these were nightmares, of course. The protagonists of Weird World are usually children accordingly. I relive the thrills of my childhood through them.

I do prefer a fight to running away. I remember in one dream when I heard the growling of a monster on the other side of a door. The unseen horror was coming after me. I was terrified. I thought I was doomed. “So be it,” my own voice told me. “Don't go down without a fight.” The monster came through the door and lunged at me. I hit it with a flurry of punches. Much to my surprise, I was winning.

Weird World is many stories. Protagonists are doomed in some of them. They are triumphant in others. Though the fiction is the horror genre, some of it is survival horror specifically.

My thematic specialty as a writer of fiction is the foot soldiers of villainy, female versions specifically. The very purpose of the archetype is to establish a standard of ordinary by which heroes can be measured. When the heroes are children... so are the foot soldiers of villainy.

As for the monsters...

They either eat the protagonist... or the child proves a hero and does what heroes do best... and slays the monster.

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Morally Superior Storytelling

The HERO is a combatant. His excellence as such is why he is the hero. The FOOT SOLDIERS OF VILLAINY are combatants. Their ineffectiveness against him is why he is the hero. The VILLAIN is what he is whether a combatant or not. He is dangerous to the hero regardless.

The best villain is the smartest character in the story. It does not matter that his underlings are slaughtered in droves with pathetic ease. His agenda is never about them. He has a grand scheme and so long as it comes to fruition, he wins.

The most difficult part of creating the perfect villain is to plan his brilliant plan. He is a genius... and showing it requires the intelligence of the storyteller. That is a problem if the storyteller is not actually smart.

The ultimate villain is wasted unless against the ultimate hero... and vice versa. Each can thrive without the other but never at their best. They are the perfect match.

The hero does not outwit the villain. On the contrary, he is tricked. He is manipulated into serving the very agenda he is trying to thwart.

The ultimate hero is someone beyond the sum of his parts. He is stronger than his superhuman strength. He is the personification of an ideal. He is the very thing he fights for.

The struggle of good against evil is spiritual. Though fought physically, it is beyond the physics.

The struggles in reality are worldly more often than not. The propaganda claims good against evil... but insincerely.

Our best fiction is the ideal, not the reality. It is our spiritual yearning for the triumph of good against evil. The ultimate hero represents goodness, even if as an antihero. The ultimate villain represents evil, even if sympathetic.

MORAL SUPERIORITY!

The FOOT SOLDIERS OF VILLAINY are an archetype with the very specific role of establishing a standard of ordinary by which the HERO is measured. He proves how extraordinary he is in proportion to how many of them he can outmatch till overwhelmed. The excellence of the actual villain becomes obvious when unlike the nameless baddies, he proves formidable, one way or another.

In the ultimate BOSS FIGHT, the VILLAIN is about to win when the HERO defeats him. This is whether the fight is combat or otherwise. The excellence of the hero proves not good enough. His actual GOODNESS is the decisive factor. The very thing he fights for prevails.

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Immersive Storytelling

I am reading a novel I wrote two years ago. I have found twelve typos so far. I shall correct them before posting the book on Amazon.

I thoroughly edit my work... yet there are always mistakes I miss: typos, grammatical errors or continuity errors. The story is what it is despite these imperfections.

The quality of fiction is its immersion. The significance of each aspect is this one thing. A reader knows the story is fake yet it feels real.

The novel I am reading is a survival horror story with a dreamlike setting. The problems writing it were weird physics and impossible odds. I had to make these unbelievable things believable.

The protagonists are little girls. The antagonists are spooks, witches and monsters. The girls must survive long enough for their story to be a novel.

The novel is The Wayward School for Girls. It is immersive.

The characters are believable as real people. Though they have magical or psychic powers, they talk like we do. They act like we do. They use their powers as we would if we had such powers.

The setting is weird... but consistent. Readers learn the strange the physics. They understand the cause and effect. The story never cheats... so what happens is accepted.

IMMERSION!

1. Make the characters speak and act as if people living their lives rather than as plot devices for telling the story.

2. Establish the rules of the reality and never break them

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President Saul

Donald John Trump ventured into politics hoping to drain the Swamp and save America. He meant to make the country better for its actual people. Though born to privilege, he did care about the common folk.

Alas...

He won the first election because he was clever. He won the second... but it was stolen from him. Clever was not enough now that the Deep State was ready for him.

Trump spoke with his children before doing what he did. They agreed that he should take the risk.

Alas...

Trump's children were born to privilege but were becoming pariah among the privileged. Trump survived a murder attempt. He feared for his children. Not only could they lose everything... but they could lose EVERYTHING.

Trump was defeated and alone after the second election was stolen from him. He was confused. He was afraid, not for himself but for his children. He was angry at the common folk for not rising up in his defense. The public he fought for was always complaining about the very things he did for them.

Trump turned against us.

Donald J. Trump mastered the Art of the Deal. We, the People are powerless, so his covenant with us is likewise. He made deals with the powerful. He aligned with Swamp creatures to win the third election.

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

--Jesus

Donald John Trump has more in common with the globalists than he does with us. They inhabit the world he lives in. We do not. They are his friends and family. We are strangers. We are the peasants and they are the lords and ladies.

Trump is ordained by God to be our President. Saul was ordained by God to be King of Israel.

"I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now."

--Jesus

God is evil. He loves the world... but love is selfish. He is righteous... but might makes right. The failings of Trump are those of his Father in heaven.

You are made in the image and likeness of God. You are evil accordingly. Your faith and obedience are irrelevant on Judgment Day. Your fate is decided by whether you were compassionate or not. Your sincerity is tested. Rob one man to pay another and your supposed grace shall be the death of you. Give from your own pocket or not at all.

God is aware of his own failings. He sent Jesus to make right what he did wrong... or rather to make good what is otherwise evil. Our reality is the work still in progress.

Pack Rats of the Inside

I read the novel Pack Rats of the Inside by Buddy Tippet. It is surreal survival-horror as a story about human nature... though the humans are anthropomorphic rats.

The misadventures begin in the House, a place of safety where everything needed is strangely provided. The Inside is the world outside the house... and cannot be seen through the windows.

The Pack Rats imagine was is beyond their home. They have story groups that share ideas. They discuss which door to use should they ever venture out.

To leave the House is to never come back. The residents violently keep you out: The Inside is outside and never to be let in. Curiosity gets the best of everyone, sooner or later, and they venture out into the unknown.

The Inside is strange and monsters lurk. Five bosses take perverted interest in Pack Rats... and ravish them in impossible ways. Doom is a fate worse than death since no one dies. Everything is sexual.

What I loved most about the novel was that it is like a nightmare of many dreamers. The protagonists are probably doomed... and I read with grim anticipation. The ending is a big surprise... but makes perfect sense.

Pack Rats of the Inside is meaningful. Its strangeness is clearly about what is normal... and makes sense accordingly. The evil is that of everyone. The monsters are as monstrous as everyone else.. and there is a reason why. The universe is cynical... but not really. Our choices do matter. Ultimately, we decide our own fate. It can be for the better.

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Fake War

In reality, wars are power struggles. They are not good against evil. The guilty are the beneficiaries and the innocent are the victims.

In fiction, wars are either realistic or fantastic. The realism is embellished. The fantasy is usually tempered with acknowledgment of tragedy.

Reality is a fiction written by God. Its characters are alive and have free will but are limited by plot devices meant to assure the intended plot plays out. The author dictates pacing and word count.

Important people do wear plot armor. They cannot die unless a dramatic moment is meant for them or they have outlived their usefulness in the story.

Most people are unimportant characters. They are living props more than anything else. Demographics are more important than individuals... with very few exceptions.

Contrary to what is assumed by the hopeful, God does fancy war. His creation is at its best when people are fighting as groups. He is pleased when people work together, even if to do evil. He enjoys the demonstrations of prowess. He is inspired by the acts of courage.

God is prone to bad ideas. He tends to squander his good ones. His wars are uninspiring. They break people, inside and out.

Nuclear weapons are God's worst idea yet. Sure, they ended World War 2 early. They “kept the peace” for nearly a century. Alas, they negate the relevance of courage and prowess.

The wars of fiction are better than those of history books... unless the history is actually fiction. I am mindful of this as a writer.