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Q&A Describing paralyzing fear in the first person

Try stream of consciousness Fear is the most immediate of emotions. If you are not put into the moment, you don't really feel it. Consider: I was so scared; I thought I was going to die. C...

posted 5y ago by Jedediah‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:51:01Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42077
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Jedediah‭ · 2019-12-08T10:51:01Z (almost 5 years ago)
## Try stream of consciousness

Fear is the most immediate of emotions. If you are not put into the moment, you don't really feel it. Consider:

> I was so scared; I thought I was going to die.

Compare that to:

> I stared at the textured plastic of the tray in upright position in front of me. Would it break when my body slammed into it? Would the flimsy belt stop me? Would it hurt, or would I just die before I felt anything - and before the plane burst into flames that would leave nothing for my family to bury. Why hadn't I apologized for being stupid last Christmas and starting an argument with my youngest sister?

Small details that put you into the moment will have much more impact than explicitly remarking that the character was afraid.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-08T22:17:05Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 6