  Short Stories
This week: Shackled and Chained Edited by: Shannon  
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Emotions can motivate or imprison us. They have the power to bring out our best as well as our worst. Today we will take a closer look at fear, the first in a series of newsletters focusing on what it means to be human.
Throughout the process of writing this newsletter series I referred to The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. Please show them some love by buying your very own copy of this invaluable book here.
Welcome to the Short Stories Newsletter. I am Shannon and I'm your editor this week. |
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We're all afraid of something. Me, I can't even get close to the second-floor railing in the mall without feeling panicky and nauseated (acrophobia). I also don't dig bugs (entomophobia). If they're several feet away from me I'm okay, but if one tries to land on me (or if I feel one crawling on me) I freak the heck out. Seriously. I. Freak. Out. I have no idea why. Most bugs can't even hurt you, at least not the bugs where I live, but there's something about them that grosses me out. I mean, have you seen a Child of the Earth bug?  'Nough said.
I have a relative who lives in a small city of 45,000 people. He works over 2,250 miles away--two weeks on (working 14 days in a row), two weeks off. In order to get to work he has to drive 35 miles to the nearest airport. The airport happens to be in a larger city of 211,000 people (535,000 in the whole metropolitan area). His wife flat-out refuses to drive him to (or pick him up from) the airport because she is deathly afraid of driving in "that city traffic". Because of this he drives himself and pays several hundred dollars every month to leave his car at the airport. Not only has his wife's fear imprisoned her to a several-block radius, it imprisons him as well, not to mention the significant strain it puts on their marriage.
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
~ H. P. Lovecraft
More often than not fear shackles and restrains us, stops and imprisons us. Fear keeps us from trying, from doing, from living. Fear leaves us with what-ifs and regrets, but sometimes our fears are rational and justified: it probably isn't a good idea for a woman to walk down a dark alley alone in an unfamiliar city at two o'clock in the morning, and that big Saint Bernard ... the one who's foaming at the mouth and baring his teeth ... yeah, probably not a good idea to scale the fence into his backyard.
What does your character fear, how does it affect his life, and how do you write about it in a convincing, sympathetic way? What's happening to your character when fear tightens its grip?
In the medical field we call it the fight-or-flight response, and we've all experienced it: increased heart/respiratory rate, the blood drains from your face, you may start shaking uncontrollably, cold sweats, clammy hands, some people experience loss of bowel/bladder control and an inability to speak coherently, irrational thoughts. Basically your mind struggles to wrap itself around what's happening while your body wants to get as far away from the perceived threat as possible and is gearing up to do so. There are physical signals, internal sensations, and mental reactions that accompany fear. It's physiological and universal. Keep this in mind as you write, and you're well on your way to penning a believable, truly terrifying read.
For a list of common (and not-so-common) phobias, see The Phobia List .
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
~ Frank Herbert, Dune
Thank you for reading.
For other newsletters in this series, see the links below:
Part 1--"Shackled and Chained"
Part 2--"My Last Nerve"
Part 3--"Unbreak My Heart"
Part 4--"E is for Envy"
Part 5--"Imaginary Lover"
Part 6--"Soul Eater"
Part 7--"The Green-Eyed Monster"
Part 8--"Ego Trip" |
I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. Please do the authors the courtesy of reviewing the ones you read. Thank you, and have a great week!
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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The following is in response to "Yada Yada Yada" :
Jimmy E. Durham, RN-BC  writes, "The letter from the editor made me think of a quote that said something to the effect of, 'The best writing technique is the technique that works best for you.' If my memory serves, that was Flannery O'Connor on writing. The rules are important because a writer needs to be familiar enough with them to know how to effectively bend them. Otherwise you're just some poor soul breaking writing rules and communicating precious little." Exactly right! I couldn't agree more. 
blunderbuss writes, "Hi Shannon and thank you for the newsletters! I was so pleased to head a bit of a counter-argument on the usual pattern, that I also headed over to Arlene Punkl regarding showing/telling in the link you had given in reponse to Brom21. Very useful article. I do begin to think that it all comes down in some way to a writer's style. We love some and do not take to others on an individual basis. I might tolerate--even appreciate--more detail and descriptive writing than another reader. Not huge chunks, of course! Sometimes prose writing can be poetic and captivating when 'showing'. Not that I am in the league of proper writers, but I do think if you have developed a sustainable writing style that you enjoy, don't ruin it by sticking too closely to 'the rules'." Well said! I agree with you 100%. It's like they say: opinions are like *#&holes. Everybody's got one.  Thank you for reading and commenting! 
Zeke  writes, "As I've probably noted previously, before writing took over the original story tellers were tellers not showers." Precisely! And we all love a good campfire story, right? 
Quick-Quill  writes, "'If all you're doing is writing to please yourself--and that's fine if that's what you want, but if you want the masses to read your work and all you're doing is writing to please yourself--you'll never have a loyal readership beyond Aunt Emma and Grandma Gentry.' This is my mantra to new writers. Are you writing for pleasure or is it a business? If it's the latter, then you must write with the rules in mind. Once you have sold #'s books and made millions of dollars or are Stephen King or Dan Brown, people will buy your books no matter how badly the are written. Then you can break the rules. Until then, stick to what is going to satisfy your goal. Family/friends reading or entice the world? It's really your choice." Absolutely right. And there's nothing wrong with writing for yourself, family, and friends. But if you want to set the world on fire, give the consumer what she wants. Thank you for reading and commenting! 
The following items were submitted by their authors:
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"Hi, I'm new to the site and I'm an 'older beginner' for fiction writing. One of my reviews suggested I submit a story. Here you go!"
"Obviously too late for the contest and quite apart from it I imagined a story and wrote the rough draft in one night and sharpened it up over the next two days. I never do this. I try, but my intended short stories almost always balloon to a novel. With a firm idea of what I wanted to say, and writing it in a style that I don't usually employ, I got something just over 1,000 words. I'm a little proud of it. It might be more of a stunt write for me than a watershed moment, but I'm hoping I can take this experience and repeat something that has been annoyingly elusive."
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Short Stories: March 25, 2015 Issue [#6889]
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