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Fear terror eye

Creating Fear in Fiction.

Years ago I spotted a friend of mine at a bookstore.  She was standing facing the shelves and reading a book she had selected from the shelve.  I walked up behind her and hovered over her.  She realized that someone was there, placed the book back, and started to walk away.  “Karla!” I yelled out to her.  She turned around surprised, “You really got me there.  That was good!”

Fear is said to be the oldest emotion.  It is housed in what is called our “Lizard Brain.”  Thinking I was a stranger really spooked her out for a time.  But when she knew it was me she was relieved and exhilarated.  I believe that is why people like to read horror.

But how can this example be achieved in fiction?

Story Plot:  Boy sneaks up to his brother and grabs him from behind!  (Dramatic Cord)

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Nope.  That doesn’t work.  Why is that?  Well first of all we obviously see what is going on.  We read that the boy was sneaking up to his brother.  Next, there is no menace.  A boy is not likely to harm his brother, much.

If we change it to the brothers point of view and describe how he is concentrating on shining his shoes to a mirror like finish so he can then peek under a girls dress with the reflection and….A giant three toed sloth bites him in the arm!

Eh, still not scary.  Why?  Well first of all he was being bad!  We have to like the characters and relate to them. (I am planning my next column on this subject by the way.)  Also we are still missing an important aspect of fear.

It is because reading that does not activate our “Lizard Brain.”  Well, how do we do that?  You say?  I will explore this by describing some situations in which my Lizard brain was activated.

When I was about ten years old my Father took a pair of my pants, stuffed them with newspaper, put my boots on the end of the pant legs and placed it all in my room.  I later entered my room and saw a pair of legs sticking out from under my bed.  Before I had a chance to THINK my “Lizard Brain” took over and in that instant, my heart stared beating faster and I was forced to take a deep breath.  A mere second later I realized that something was up and investigated.  I left my room leaving the pants there.  I came back five minutes later and it happened again!  My “Lizard Brain” took over and I repeated the whole process.  I KNEW instantly that it was just a stuffed pair of pants, but my subconscious did not.

Could the key be writing to a readers subconscious?  I believe so.  This is very problematic though.  How is this attained?

Another time I remember activating my lizard brain was when I was driving.  I saw a pink piece of fiberglass insulation on the road.  Before I could process what I was seeing though, I thought I saw a body!  It looked nothing like a body.  But my subconscious interpreted it as one.  So for a second I sort of freaked.

Can one write a story in such a way that the subconscious interprets what is happening in a different way?  I believe so.  But it seems very difficult.

The last story I will share is the time I was in the garage goofing around.  I was about eleven and had just seen the movie “Alien” for the first time. I had a golf ball and like any other boy would, I decided to take it apart.  I placed the golf ball into the vice and started sawing away at it with a hack saw.  I had to tighten the vice a lot to prevent the ball from slipping.  I had just cut through the outer layer when I started hearing, “crack–crack–crack,”  The hairs on the back of my neck started to raise as the speed of the sound became more frequent, “Crack-Crack-Crack-Crack,”  Suddenly the cut I made started to open like a mouth!  Little strands of sinew and green liquid started oozing out of the orifice I had created, “CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK!”  Suddenly, A lump emerged from the center and shot out of the shell hitting the ceiling!  “POP!”  I fled for my life from that demon egg I had broken!

Obviously, It wasn’t anything supernatural.  But it remains one of the most supernaturaly fearful events of my life.  The explanation is simple really.  You just have to understand the construction of some golf balls.

The construction of that golf ball was as follows:  In the center there was a ball larger than a marble that had a cork-like texture to it.  Inside that ball was some sort of liquid.  Lots of rubber bands were wrapped around it and outside of that it had a hard plastic outer shell.

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The pressure of the vice had forced the ball, rubber bands, and liquid out of the outer shell.

What is the lesson here?  For one it was definitely my scariest example yet for a reader I believe.  The detail and sounds is what I believe is responsible for this.  The other reason is that I described an ordinary object and described what can occur in a unique situation.  Without experiencing this, I could never come up with this let alone write about it.  In other words:  Write about what scares you!  Write about what you know!  And write it with detail!

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