Thursday, January 5, 2012

What do you fear?

Fear. Nearly everyone has some sort of fear, whether it's spiders, dark, or even something simple such as fear of failure. I'm a weird one. I love spiders, snakes, dark and creepy places... I blame my cousins for taking me on thrill rides and haunted houses at carnivals when I was no older than 6... but change, I can handle change, but something about doing something so out of my comfort zone scares me. I like to know what to expect and what I'm doing, but I don't let that stop me from moving forward.

When writing horror, I like to explore the different fears, trying to create the right sense of emotion and fright in every character and scene. So, today I thought I'd list a few of the familiar, interesting and weird phobias that people can have.

  • Achluophobia- Fear of darkness.
  • Algophobia- Fear of pain.
  • Astrophobia- Fear of stars or celestial space.
  • Asymmetriphobia- Fear of asymmetrical things.  
  • Atelophobia- Fear of imperfection.
  • Bibliophobia- Fear of books. - Something I'm definitely not!
  • Brontophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning.
  • Cacophobia- Fear of ugliness.
  • Coulrophobia- Fear of clowns.
  • Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school.
  • Eisoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors or of seeing oneself in a mirror.
  • Ephebiphobia- Fear of teenagers.
  • Glossophobia- Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
  • Gnosiophobia- Fear of knowledge.
  • Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words.
  • Mnemophobia- Fear of memories.
  • Mythophobia- Fear of myths or stories or false statements.
  • Necrophobia- Fear of death or dead things.
  • Pentheraphobia- Fear of mother-in-law
  • Phasmophobia- Fear of ghosts.
  • Sciaphobia- Fear of shadows.
  • Scriptophobia- Fear of writing in public.
  • Sophophobia- Fear of learning.
  • Verbophobia- Fear of words
This is only some of the phobias that were listed. Check out  Phobia List for even more. In my current YA horror, I'm actually using the simple fear of ghosts and the dark, mixed with the fear of memories (mnemophobia) because my character has amnesia. 

So, what are you scared of?           

7 comments:

Angela Brown said...

I have a fear of snakes. I just can't get with them. They are just so...eeek!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Hi, Cheree! I am terrified of bees, but more than anything in the world, I fear the loss of a loved one--especially one of my children.

Carolyn V said...

Hey Cheree. Hum, I'm going to say that I'm afraid of spiders. Especially big ones. Ew. ;)

Hannah said...

I don't really "fear" anything anymore. There are things that creep me out or things I'd rather not see or deal with but not really fear. But I am a horror writer so fear is subjective and hard to come by, for me.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I don't fear imperfection but it does make me leery...

Sarah Ahiers said...

ooh, you're just like me! We used to go hunting for snakes, and my mom would read us stephen king before bed. But yeah, when i have to do something our of my comfort zone, my flight or fight response kicks in. I can be an adult about it and overcome it, but if i had a choice, i prefer to go places and do things i've done before.

Nicole Zoltack said...

I fear death. There are just so many things I want to do and accomplish in my life that I worry I won't be able to get to them all.

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