Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 00:03:22 EDT
Subject: EXERCISE: Fearfully...
In horror of the situation, let us consider some things that might make
you fearful. Scared? A deep-down, bone shaking, quivering puddle of
pusillanimous timidity? Just as examples:
fear in a dentist's office...the sound of whirring, punctuated with
clashes of whining, framed in aching silence touched with liquid gushes.
the medicinal odors, tainted with the stink of burning bone and decay.
the faint twinge of abdominal muscles tightening in anticipation. the
screaming--expected, awaited as a release from the tension, and yet
never allowed, never heard, swallowed in sputtering silence.
or perhaps your metier is a wall of blooms--lovely golden explosions of
petals, a joyful collar of lavender pink surrounding a black velvet
button, long green stems and tattered leaflets--and the small black
spider lurking deep inside, red hourglass marking the last grains of the
sands of time. Or does the flitting bobbing drone of the happy bee
conceal the sting of finality?
So, pick a number from one to six.
1. Insects (pick one, pick one...)
2. Snakes/Reptiles/fish (you get to select one that you shiver with)
3. Illness (yes, you decide whether it will be a simple burst appendix
or the more exotic strain of something from afar...Andromeda?)
4. Disability (smashed, cut, gouged, a small nick in a nerve...)
5. Rodents and other chitters in the night...
6. Plants (from the little greenhouse of horrors? or your own
backyard? you plant the seed, water it, and reap the thorny cold
embrace...)
Play with it. What about that would be frightening to you? Now, can
you take a character or two and put them in a situation where they are
going to put their hand into the dark crevice where it lurks?
Let me give away a plot.
1. The protagonist is introduced, with a little bit of foreshadowing
that this is a person who has some problems. Perhaps they duck away
from the sound of a car backfiring? Or maybe they have some trouble
pulling the drapes in their room to hide the hideous green outside?
2. There is...a kitten? a puppy? a child? someone weak and in need
of help...that forces our protagonist up against the thing they fear.
3. amid flashbacks, carefully sketching in the breaking of the
protagonist, the horror of that time that can never be forgotten -- and
never remembered in full! -- the protagonist struggles and twists,
trying to help, but...
4. take your time. make us feel the agony of the protagonist, looking
at the little girl about to drown and fearing to tread where memory
tells them evil lurks...tighten the tension, drive home the drip of
sweat trickling cold down the back, make us hang our head in shame as
the hot tears and fear paralyze us...
5. And the triumphant end! The cathartic release of doing it, of
snapping the bonds of the past and saving the day!
Quick Start?
"Leave the bloodsuckers behind us," she said, and kicked his
kneecap, hard, leaving him lying on the ground.
or maybe...
Any day that starts with dead men kicking in your front door isn't
going to be a good one.
Write two three four...
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