Random Image Wednesday!-#23

Time to for another offering for the fright collection theme we have going on for February. Luckily, for some reason, I actually have a chance to get this blog post up for today as it usually happens versus trying to catch up later. Maybe we should change the name of this blog series to just Random Image Day, you know, just in case. 😉

Ok, enough with all that, we’re trying to bring the creepy not talk endlessly about adulting. So, let’s dive in…I mean slip into something a little more sinister. This week let’s build upon the idea of showing and not telling and last week’s thoughts on letting our mind build up the tension and fear with something that personally terrifies me…dark water!

Growing up in the South, I did my fair share of swimming at the local springs, skinny dipping in cow ponds, and enjoying midnight splash fests in our backyard above ground pools, but it wasn’t until I got older that a fear of the unknown hindered my swimming enjoyment. I can’t pinpoint where it started, but there it was in full leg wobbling detail. It didn’t stem from an incident or accident, or maybe it did.

Psychologically speaking, I can sound professional because it’s my blog dammit, it is entirely possible that childhood trauma or a build-up of lackluster experiences had developed a connection to dark water that further created a Pavlovian response to seeing or being around dark water or water so deep I can’t see the bottom. I’m sure many an hour spent watching the “Jaws” movies, “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, “Leviathan”, “The Abyss”, or any other of the hundred underwater movies out there had anything to do with it. 😉

It could be that every time I have ever spent time in water I couldn’t see the bottom of or water so dark I couldn’t see anything in, my feet ended up finding the creepy, uncovering the slimy, or simply connecting with the single piece of sharp glass or rusted jagged metal in the entire area. I had that special talent I guess of being the only one who would be “Yay, let’s go swimming in Old Man Jenkin’s creek,” to “I need four towels, six stitches, and a Tetanus shot,” apparently almost losing a toe has that effect.

Anywho, jumping out of my head so my followers don’t get lost in there, let’s move on. Details are always important in writing, but pushing your reader along a track that you gingerly cover from view can help generate a much better read and really bring the fear. It’s not the water itself that creeps people out, it’s the possibility of what’s beneath that you as a writer can really amp up for tension!

Take today’s picture as an example. There are so many possibilities to write a good scene that it’s mindboggling! Fear of water, check. Fear of breaking old wood and falling into creepy water, check. Needing the one thing to stop the crazy killer or alien force or whatever from killing you and everyone you know and it’s all the way at the end of the jetty, check! Explore scene writing with the mood in mind and work on detail, even minor details can bring the pain and make readers cling to every sentence!

These posts will be about showcasing a random picture I find in the hopes of inspiring others to create ideas for their writing. Sometimes I provide the picture and randomly prattle on about something I find interesting, sometimes I do more than my fair share.

I have found that generating a quick 1-3 sentence scenario, a blurb, a scene, or a full novel concept based on a random picture has worked wonders in opening up the floodgates to new ideas and enjoyment in the world of fiction. It is my hope that others will find these images and possibly be inspired to jump into the wild world of writing and become the author they always wanted to be.

Without further ado, our 23rd entry!-

Have a comment, question, or want to tell us your fears? Leave a note, wave hello, or send up a flare. Keep reading, keep writing, and Happy Hauntings!