“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
It’s a cliché now — but it gets at the root of our greatest fears and phobias. While Roosevelt was talking about the economic situation of the time, phobias are born of an initial fear. When an event occurs, we have a primary emotion, such as fear. If we think we shouldn’t feel that way, sometimes that primary emotion leads to a secondary one — such as a fear of being fearful.
We’ve already written ghost stories last December, so this month, let’s focus on fear. Look up a phobia that interests you, and write a story focused on a character who experiences it. You can write about the inciting event that led to that phobia, an interesting time that illuminates it, or even about a character overcoming a phobia.
To get you started, here’s a long Wikipedia list of phobias.
Responses:
Choke Point by Courtney Hulbert
Ichthyophobia by E.M. Killaley