Wednesday 11 January 2012

ABC of Thriller Writing...

 INCY WINCY SPIDER...

A - ARACHNID
I thought it might be fun, this year, to organise my blog around an alphabetised compendium of thriller writing-related subjects.
So, today’s word topic is Arachnid.
You might feel that this is a strange word topic for a thriller writer but the word popped into my head and on thinking it through I realised there are many occasions when spiders are used in thrillers. Not least the fact that many people are afraid of spiders so in terms of engendering basic fear they can and do make people shudder and do all manner of crazy things.
Ordinary household spiders, for me, are totally creepy and scary – especially when they scuttle so fast that you can rarely see where they go to. It is that fear of not knowing where they are that adds to the fear dimension even when they have disappeared.
Then of course, spiders and spider webs are such an iconic part of ghostly, paranormal stories too. What would a haunted house be without the spider webs lurking in every corner? And even walking into a web in the pitch dark can be scary – especially when it sticks to your face!
Many a story and horror film have featured spiders much more prominently – as the main focus of the tale. Witness ‘Arachnophobia’ and similar stories.
Spiders are such strange creatures, that the idea of large and deadly versions of them is anathema to most of us. Although, we do have spiders that have the ability to kill…  May be a Modus Operandi for a murder mystery thriller or has that been done to death – so to speak…
So are you scared of spiders? Do you think fear of spiders could be the basis of a psychological thriller?

11 comments:

  1. Ew, ew! Tarantulas are SO creepy. My mom used to live in Texas, and they actually have road signs that indicate tarantula crossings--where hordes of them cross the road in front of you. That's enough to make someone scared of arachnids!! Yeah...I hate the scuttling. *shudder*

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  2. I've trained myself not to be afraid of spiders, because it's a totally irrational fear. I can now pick up a medium-sized one, and am working on the larger, hairier varieties! But there is something intrinsiclaly unpleasant about them. I've often wondered whether we would be less afraid if they were hairless/a different colour/had fewer legs? A smooth blue spider with four legs, for example....?

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  3. I've become more and more frightened of spiders. If I see them, I freak out and I turn down my bed covers and move my pillows around before getting into bed. I keep thinking that a spider crawled under the covers sometime during the day.

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  4. Afraid of spiders? That would be me. I won't even get close enough to one to kill it. I think maybe one jumped on me when I was little. It's the only thing I can think of to make me freak out so.

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  5. I hate spiders, although I can't bring myself to kill them. They could definitely work as a psychological thriller - although I'm not sure I could read it!

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  6. Oh, oh, oh, oh YES I hate spiders. Especially wolf spiders who actually seem to stalk me. My sister used to put them on her arm and chase me. I'm soon going to be living in the jungle of Akumal, Mexico where there are tarantulas. It will the the scream heard 'round the world if I ever encounter one.

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  7. I just critiqued a novel by a friend who wrote about spiders. It really adds a whole new element of suspense and horror.

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  8. Spiders really creep me out. They move so fast and have such tiny spindly legs. You would definitely get the creep factor if spiders were involved.

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  9. Aaaaaaa! Aaaaaa! Aaaaaaa! There are spiders on your blog! I am officially freaked out. Seriously, they freak me out more in print than they do in real life for some strange reason that even I don't understand.

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  10. I'm not scared of spiders, but I can't say I'd want to make friends with them.

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  11. What a great idea to have an alphabetical theme.
    I can't even look at pictures of spiders. I can just about live with the daddy long legs type spiders as long as they don't come near me, but those big black house spiders - ugh!

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