The horror genre thrives on scary stories, but the emotion of fear exists in other genres as well: thrillers, mysteries, true crime…everything, even romance. Why? Because fear is a part of life.
What is scary?
What’s scary for me isn’t the same for you and vice versa, but we all share some common fears.
A quick Google search of fears provides small spaces, thunder and lightning, dogs, open or crowded spaces, heights, snakes, spiders, flying, holes, and germs. You can even mix it up in combos like flying spiders (aiyee!).
Those fears mostly relate to the physical world. There are also fears of the mind. Search your nightmares to find rejection, loneliness, confusion, dread, worry, and the biggest one – the unknown.
Why would anyone want to be afraid?
Why do some people love riding roller coasters? Or feel the need to climb Mount Everest? It’s a quest, searching for the intense thrill of being fully alive, facing fear head-on, living in the all-encompassing moment.
For those who don’t crave near-death experiences, like me, reading provides a safer way to experience life vicariously. When I was very young, I was afraid of so many things.
One day, I happened to look inside a horror comic book. I was terrified but kept on reading. Something about these stories freed me, releasing fear’s strangle-hold over me. Now I write horror. It’s cathartic. I’m certainly not fearless, but I’m able to cope with my fears much better than I used to.
Why is facing fear important
Fear in itself isn’t a bad thing. Fear is an instinctive response meant to protect us. Fight or flight. We can’t help getting scared, it’s an instantaneous biological reaction that generates adrenaline, among other things, saving us from many calamities…but…we can choose how to respond after that initial jolt of fear. We can choose to live a life where we don’t overreact to life’s jump scares.
Everything ties back to emotions. There’s an old saying – to be in control of your life, you have to be in control your emotions. Fear is probably the strongest emotion, so it’s an important factor throughout our lives. Facing fear is like getting a vaccine shot. In small doses, it can help build up your body’s resistance. However, I don’t recommend taking on more than you can handle. As someone famous once said, “All things in moderation, including moderation.”
Where do you find fear?
Watch the news. Highlighting sensationalism to draw in viewers, the news headlines often try to manipulate us through fear.
Watch the behavior of people. People make a lot of quirky decisions out of fear. The saddest thing is that they miss out on love – the true meaning of life – simply because they’re afraid of rejection. And, once they find love – they worry – because they know love can be lost. That’s scary! It takes a great deal of courage to love someone deeply.
How to come up with scary ideas for writing
Ray Bradbury suggested asking yourself ‘what if?’ to find new ideas. What if something was different about an everyday occurrence going on around you?
Also, think about your life experiences. The things that truly shook you to the core. When I was young, I had a sheltered life in general, but here are two instances that have stayed with me:
- I had a .45 pistol waved in my face by a crazy kid. I could’ve ended up as an unsolved murder statistic: lone boy found dead in a remote section of a snowy park. It’s chilling to realize that your life can end at any moment due to events beyond your control.
- My family and I (and many others) saw a UFO close up for a long time. Knowing we aren’t alone in the universe changes your perspective in so many ways. For starters, why haven’t world governments been transparent about this situation? And are the secrets they’re hiding far worse than we can imagine?
I imagine you’ve experienced some life-changing incidents as well.
What do you do with the ideas?
Connect the ideas. Put your personal spin on them. Weave these scenarios into a plot.
The best writing is about real life, but I would urge caution about how deep a dive you take when writing about fear. Your readers want to be entertained, and maybe learn something new or get their curiosity aroused. They don’t want to be traumatized. All that said, tread carefully when it comes to fears, but also be aggressive in daylighting them, slaying them like the soul sucking vampires they are. Take away their power over you and your readers.
No matter what we do, I hope we can all find purpose in our lives, live passionately, and be fearless in the face of adversity. Dare to win. Be the light in the darkness.
Thank you kindly.
About the author
Jeff has a long history of technical writing, which oddly enough, often reads like pure fiction. In addition to his two short story books, The Captivating Flames of Madness and Algorithm of Nightmares, he is published in The Horror Zine, The Best of The Horror Zine: The Middle Years, The Horror Zine’s Book of Werewolves, The Horror Zine’s Book of Ghost Stories, Aphelion Webzine, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 4, Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine, Chilling Ghost Short Stories, Dystopia Utopia Short Stories, Wax & Wane: A Coven of Witch Tales, Thinking Through Our Fingers, The Moving Finger Writes, Golden Prose & Poetry, Our Dance With Words, The Voices Within, Fireburst: The Inner Circle Writers’ Group, Second Flash Fiction Anthology 2018, SNM Horror Magazine, and Bonded by Blood IV/ V. He is currently seeking a publisher for his first novel titled Tomorrow Will End, a sci-fi/ horror adventure.
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