  Horror/Scary
This week: You Can't Fight Fear with Fear Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI RIP BIKERIDER  
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| Well-meaning people's idea of comforting you when you're afraid is to tell you not to be afraid -- because then you'll make things worse! A couple of snippets from my own experience. |
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Dear Reader,
From 2012 to 2015, I have had eleven eye surgeries (seven on the right eye, four on the left). This was because I had detachment of retina in both eyes. After some of the surgeries, to fix the retina, I had to lie on my face for hours on end each day.
Having any kind of surgery is scary. Eye surgeries are done under local anaesthesia -- which means that I could hear every word the surgeon was saying to his assistants and students. "When you have abnormal fiber like this, you need to take a call whether to use scissors or not." That's just one example of the type of thing I could hear. Sometimes, I could feel the instruments they were working with, during the operation.
Scary, huh?
So -- go ahead, comfort me!
I had plenty of hours of solitude. There's not much you can do lying on your face. You can listen to stuff, yes. You can ask people to come over and talk to the back of your head, and try to decipher your muffled replies. And you can think. And with hours of thinking, you can start imagining. All sorts of weird stuff. ("Should I learn Braille?" "What if I forget what the colours look like? How will I remind myself?" "How will I know if I have my period, if I go blind?")
And yes, my friends did try to comfort me.
"If you worry, you'll take longer to heal," one of them said, in an attempt to soothe my nerves.
Great. Just great. So now, I have to not only worry about my eyes, but worry about worrying, too. Thanks a lot.
Anyway, the good part is that I'm a writer. So everything that happens to me is potential material for a piece of writing. In this case, a horror/scary newsletter about fighting fear with fear.
Which you can't do. At least, I can't.
I can't stop worrying because worrying will make the situation more worrisome.
I can stop worrying if you tell me that you understand that I'm going through some hard times but things will be all right -- and maybe give me an example of someone who had a difficult time after an eye surgery and recovered. You know, something hopeful, something that'll validate my feelings and give me positive vibes after that.
Now put yourself in the horror writers' mode.
What does it mean for you, as a horror writer? It means that you can make an already horrifying situation more horrifying -- by adding that fearing that situation will worsen it. Add to fear by the fear of fear. And then compound it.
Which means, it can start out small, and then grow. Fear is in the mind. Being afraid of that fear is even more in the mind. Keep piling it on, playing with what the mind does. Make it scarier and scarier.
I'm a Harry Potter fan(atic), so I can't resist adding a Potter reference. Non-Potterheads, feel free to read or ignore!  Remember when Lupin doesn't let Harry face the Boggart (Book #3), because he feels it'll turn into Voldemort and scare everyone in the class too much? Harry says he did think of Voldemort at first, but then remembered the Dementor -- and Lupin says Harry is wise because it shows that what he fears is fear itself.
Yup. You need to fear fear itself. And you can't scare someone into comfort!
Thanks for listening!
PS: My Doctors have assured me that I'm not going blind ... that was something my imagination cooked up.
PPS: Here's something that I'm doing out of insecurity.
Note: I have purposely repeated words like 'fear' and 'worry' close to each other because I wanted to emphasise that it's the same thing happening. So using a wider vocabulary would dilute that.
PPPS: See what I did  there?
Showed you how fearing the situation just made it worse. If you thought I'm a bad writer for repeating phrases, you now think I'm pathetic for clarifying it!  GOTCHA! |
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And here are the responses -- thanks, everyone!:
Sonali, you've pointed out some good causes of fear, and good descriptions. Good job! Your Question: The biggest fear with me (so far) is complete and utter darkness while alone. I can hear the air move! Physical? Sense it? umm, fast heartbeat? -- esprit 
I enjoyed this news letter. There was a lot of information here for us to use as horror/scary writing. Thank you. -- Elaine's Beary Limited*~
Umm ... I fear I will never be as logical or as thorough as you. I fear being left behind as you swoop ahead, so I shall flap my wings harder. I fear you will have to put up with my constant adulation if you come up with such NLs! 
Unusual or inappropiate behaviour clues me in to fear, sudden pallor, unexpected silence, a bead of sweat on a cool day, an assured speaker who stammers, a quiet person who becomes garrulous ... all these rouse suspicion. Knowing fear is more difficult, one has to know the person first. For example the only sign I exhibit is icy cold fingertips, I generally then jam my hands deep into my pockets, a thing I never do otherwise. So there, I have exposed my innermost fears and their outward manifestation!  -- Just an Ordinary Boo! 
What an awesome article about FEAR. I liked it very much. - willwilcox
You have got off to a great start with your first horror/scary newsletter's examination of fear. It really got me thinking of all the every day things that to some mean nothing, and to others mean 'fear'  -- Acme
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Horror/Scary: August 30, 2017 Issue [#8465]
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