“There is nothing to
fear if you refuse to be afraid.” Ghandi
One of the most useful plot devices I’ve found is to give a
character a phobia. It doesn’t have to be a major phobia – although many
premises have used the more common phobias such as agoraphobia, (fear of open
spaces) claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces) or arachnophobia ( fear of
spider.
Everyone knows and understands that a phobia is simply an
irrational fear of something but when applied successfully to a character, it
can lift that person right off the page and make them seem so real and
relatable and gives them a ready-made flaw.
Sympathy is easily engaged – as most of us have some irrational fears at
some point.
That is not to say we are all irrational – but depending on
circumstances, we all have the ability to act irrational under extreme duress.
If the phobia is something that a main character is struggling against then
that makes it all the more desirable as readers will root for the character and
want them to win that battle as well as succeed in the main story goal.
Phobias also give the writer the opportunity to twist and
turn with the plot and have largely unexpected outcomes. In my first book, my
main character had a phobia of mist, steam, fog etc. Mainly stemming from the
fact that she was scared what the mist could be hiding… I had great fun with
that one!
Although we talk about irrational fears, they are not really
irrational to the sufferer - only to other people who look on. Phobias do not
just pop up from anywhere. They are generally rooted in a character’s past.
Sometimes so deeply hidden that the person has little insight as to where it
came from in the first place. But dig a little and it will come to light. For
instance my protagonist (as a very young child) in my first book "Insight" had discovered her mother dead
in a steam filled bathroom – hence her abiding fear. But she barely remembered
the incident as being in a steam filled room as she had been so traumatised by
discovering her dead mother that she had suppressed the memory.
So, phobias – big and small - can definitely add spice to
your story and even help to bring your characters to life on the page.
Have you ever thought about using a phobia in your
stories?
