Eneh Akpan Writes: Top Ten Things That Terrorize

THE TOP TEN COUNTDOWN

10. STAGE FRIGHT –

This group would include speaking/performing in public; interacting with new people and other related stuff involving a large group people. A lot of folks are terrified to be under public scrutiny which is practically what it feels like to be up, front and center performing in public.

9. BETRAYAL/DISAPPOINTMENT/RESENTMENT –

I lumped this trio together because I suppose, in a queer kind of way, they’re related. They are all items you can tick off your finger as relations-oriented issues. People disappoint on a daily basis and though we wrap ourselves up in protective shells, we still get hurt. We walk into relationships half-expecting that in the next second we’ll be sweeping shattered pieces of our hearts off the floor with a dustpan and broom. This is basically, a fear of commitment.

8. HEIGHTS/DEPTHS/ENCLOSED SPACES –

They belong to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort. - Wikipedia

Fear of height probably includes fear of flying. And fear of depths could be further split into two;

1. The fear of volumes with large depths such as stairways and deep caves.

2. The fear of depths

- Wikipedia

7. ADOLESCENCE/PUBERTY (GROWING UP) –

Fear of growing up and fear of being displaced in your parents’ lives. Many of us had this fear and some never get over it, even though, the extreme case is what we’re really discussing. I once read some place where someone stated they were scared of growing up and their parents dying. This is another way to present this phobia.

6. ANIMALS/OTHER CREATURES –

Spiders, dogs, mice/rats, cats and the likes, and of course, snakes and sharks. Stephen King said he can stand snakes but is terrified by spiders! Fear is a mystery and it continues to baffle us through all generations.

5. THE DARK –

The dark throws a scare into millions of people (especially children?). In the dark is when our deepest fears grow talons and come out to play. Loneliness, depression, nightmares and of course, freaks and psychos wield their greatest horror in the dark. And so, people tend to see evil in every shadow.

4. STRANGERS/OTHER PEOPLE –

Roland Poppo is now a famous name across the internet as the homeless guy who got his face chewed off by a stranger. In matter of fact, we are much more terrified if the adversary is a thinking, calculating being. If he is one of us. A human can see into our thoughts and read our every move, which makes psychos more terrifying than uncalculating wild beasts. Fear of foreigners or strange people comes out when we are under stress.

3. THE UNKNOWN –

If the first rule of warfare is know your enemy, then not knowing who or what you’re up against tips the scale. People are afraid of entering and exploring a new ground, because they think they might get in trouble. They are afraid of losing what they already have by jumping into the unknown.

2. DEATH –

Everybody dies, eventually. Yeah, but I aint afraid to die, just trying to make sure I get it right. The fear of death is pervasive in a world where millions of lives can disintegrate at the touch of a button. Terrorists aint helping matters, either. But death is not (in my opinion, anyway and this is backed up by some research) the most fearful thing which is why I placed it in the number 2 spot.

1. FAILURE –

Why do you suppose the rate of suicide has tripled in recent years?

I just finished reading ROADWORK by Stephen King. Although, King doesn’t come right out to state it in black and white, Bart Dawes, the main character in the story offed himself because he saw himself as a failure.

First, he fails to secure a new place for his laundry company (on purpose) and threw away his job;

Secondly, his wife leaves him (in consequence of the fact that he failed to secure a new apartment for them. Again, on purpose.) and

Third, because he wouldn’t exhume the body of his son (who had died a few months before of a brain tumor) and rebury him (an ongoing road construction had forced him to relocate) he blew his apartment to hell taking himself along for the bumpy ride.

Nothing takes the sweetness out your mouth as not being able to discover the hidden you in a severely distracted universe. If you lose sight of yourself, death is only child’s play.

WHAT TRIGGERS YOUR DEMONS?

Without a doubt, this countdown would be different if you had done it. Failure is my number one and only fear cause I believe nothing is as fatal (not even death) as the unfulfilled life. And that’s probably, the reason I always see success as the sweetest revenge.

. . . AND HOW THE WRITER CAN THRIVE ON ‘EM

Check out this week’s edition of the New York Times Bestseller list and try to see how many of the story plots are triggered by any one of these fears.

As a writer, you can tailor your character’s pitfalls around one or four of these. You can be sure your story would appeal to someone out there. Bull's eye, mama!

Let your pen bleed!

Akpan