Phobias are a powerful way to add depth to your characters, giving insight into their backstory, mindset, and resilience. However, capturing all the complexities of a phobia is more than just noting a fear. It involves understanding its origins, including body language, and showing how it impacts the character’s life. So, whether it’s a fear of heights, confined spaces, or social situations, writing a character with a phobia requires planning. Thankfully, this article will explore all the things you need to know when writing characters with phobias.
Know Why They're Afraid
The first thing you need to know when writing characters with phobias is why they're afraid. Phobias often stem from an impactful experience, so diving into your character's background will help make their fear feel authentic. Is their phobia from a traumatic childhood, an inherited family fear, or even a nightmare? In general, you should consider where their phobia comes from and why they are afraid. Understanding these layers of your character's personality and life not only makes their phobia more believable but also deepens their personality and drives meaningful plot points in your story.
Understand Their Backstory
Relating to the previous point, it is critical to understand the backgrounds of your characters, especially those with phobias. Knowing their past experiences helps reveal why they have developed certain fears and how those fears affect their worldview. For instance, a character who has an extreme fear of water may have almost drowned as a child. Or a character who has a phobia of swings may have seen their cousin get injured after falling off of one. Whatever it is, understanding your character's backstory will allow you to craft a more vivid betrayal of their experiences. Overall, a well-rounded backstory will give your characters depth and make their phobias more than just a surface-level trait. This way you can show readers the complex impact past events have had on their present lives.
Include Body Language
You should also include boy language when writing characters with phobias. Physical reactions and body language will make the phobias feel more immediate and believable to readers. That is why you should consider how your characters will respond to their phobias. For instance, someone with a fear of heights may unconsciously grip the edge of a chair when imagining high places, while a character with a phobia of spiders might instinctively recoil or start breathing heavily when they see even a shadow resembling a spider. These subtle cues show readers the character’s discomfort and make their fear more immersive. Plus, repetitive actions—such as fidgeting, tapping fingers, or avoiding eye contact—can also underscore the depth of their phobia, providing insight into how scared they are.
Consider Their Mindest
Another thing to consider when writing characters is their mindset. By that, I mean you should think about what your character's mindset is regarding treatment and getting help for their phobia. Every character is different, so every character's view on getting help for their phobia will be different. Some characters might be eager to overcome their fears, while others are more resistant, believing they can handle it alone or feeling embarrassed about needing help. In general, make sure you think about how your character views their phobia and whether or not they want to get help.
Research
Lastly, the best thing to do when writing about characters with phobia is research! Even if you have the phobia yourself research will give you more insight into the phobia. Plus, it will make your writing even more realistic. That's why you should look into the causes, symptoms, and coping mechanisms associated with the phobia, and consider how it might affect the daily lives of your characters. Overall, researching phobias will make your writing more believable as well as ensure you steer clear of stereotypes. For more tips on researching for a novel, click on the button below.
By utilizing the tips above, you are sure to create characters who feel genuinely relatable—even when facing their biggest fears. So go ahead, dive into the psychology, and bring your characters’ phobias to life.
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