Are you scared yet?

by Biljana Likic

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Before I begin, you have to promise yourself that while reading this article, you will not turn around. No checking behind your back for monsters. This is a bit of an experiment.

A few weeks ago I was hanging out with a friend. One that is fully aware of how paranoid I am. So like the great person he is, he made his face go all slack and surprised, widened his eyes, looked over my shoulder, and said, “What the hell is that?”

Obviously, I looked. Who wouldn’t? It’s a preservation act. It’s instinct. If you feel like there’s something threatening behind you, you look. And then you see that there isn’t (for the most part) and you go along living your merry life, laughing (or having a friend laugh) at your foolishness.

But of course, he had to make it a competition.

It quickly turned into, “I bet if I told you that there was a man in a mutant bunny suit behind you à la Donnie Darko, you’d look.”

Oh he’s a clever one, isn’t he? He didn’t even have to say it. He just had to allude to it and I wanted to turn around. It’s that creepy feeling where you imagine something watching you behind your back. You have to look to make sure there isn’t, even if the idea is absolutely ridiculous.

So I didn’t turn around. I glared at him, and all the while, I could feel the back of my neck prickling with just the possibility that there was something behind me.

Which got me thinking.

Being fortunate enough to not have experienced too much fear in my lifetime, scary scenes aren’t exactly on the top of my writing list. It could be just because it’s never come up in my writing, (because I’d most likely scare myself more than anybody reading it,) but it could conceivably also be because I’ve never been very, very scared in my life before.

So how do you go about getting across a character’s fear without being sure what it feels like?

Well here’s a way. Make yourself creeped out.

Allow me to help you with that.

First of all, don’t look.

Imagine that there’s a man in a mutant bunny suit behind you. His eyes are lifeless and the fur around his mouth is stained red. He is completely motionless; unnaturally still. Just standing behind you and watching you. Then he slowly starts walking up to you with noiseless footsteps. He’s getting closer. He’s close enough now to read this over your shoulder. You think you might be able to hear something dripping. He’s reaching out to touch you. He’s inches away. You realize the dripping is blood falling from a carving knife.

You suddenly know with incredible certainty that what I’m describing is what’s actually happening to you right now. He knows that you’ve figured it out. And just for that, he going to kill you.

He’s raising his arm.

He’s lifting the knife into the air.

He can smell your fear.

This isn’t a fun exercise anymore. This is reality. If you turn around and look, you will, without a doubt, see a man in a chilling, distorted bunny suit, a knife poised and ready to be driven into your spine.

And the only way you can save yourself if to look. Just turn around. The moment your lay eyes on him, he’ll disappear and you’ll be safe. But until then…

You can hear him shifting his weight. He’s about to strike.

Did you look yet?

Are you creeped out?

Can you feel your stomach coiling with tension, back hunching defensively?

Use it. Go back to that scary scene that’s been stumping you or sounds contrived.

Just be thankful it isn’t real.

…Right?

~~~

Biljana Likic is an aspiring author, currently revising her first novel, TIME IS A FUNNY THING. She is in her first year of university, where she can’t wait till she’s out so she’ll finally have all the time in the world to write. You can visit her blog here and follow her on Twitter here.