Random Image Wednesday!-#25

Our wild ride through fear and frights is slamming on the brakes as February draws to a close. It won’t be as if we’ll never venture back into the bumps and boos of the night, it’s just that we try and mix things up a bit along the way. The pictures used this month have focused on our fears, more importantly, our abilities as authors to draw those emotions from our readers and capture it within our work. The books included this month for review showcased some of the ways authors have generated that “fight or flight” feeling in readers be it gruesome, subtle, or bizarre and all are very worthy of a late night read to give you chills.

I have noticed, as we’ve traveled this road of frighteningly good fun, that some of the greatest chills and thrills within a book that make us leave all the lights on stem, not from the monsters we believe are hiding in the closet, under the bed, or tapping at our dark windows, but within ourselves. It has become increasingly evident that we should not only fear the darkness, but also the darkness we create. One of the best weapons an author has in his/her arsenal is the mental switch.

I call it a mental switch, but you can reference it as anything that makes your mind create the fear on its own given a certain set of parameters. See, it’s not just the scene as described, it’s our own minds creating the panic, the fear, the worse case scenario that drives us headfirst into a book. We crave it, panic over it, and read some more because we want to know if our worst fears are realized or is it something else attributing to that twisted gut feeling as we read. The author creates the work, we decipher it. They set the scene, we place the figures. A simple descriptive addition to a written work is sometimes just enough to let our minds wander to a darker side and force the fear to bubble over.

Case in point, our not one, but two pictures offered up for inspection this week. Also, the books I have reviewed this month offer up just enough information to force the reader to create scenarios in their head far worse than what was written. Here is picture 1. 🙂

Looks innocent enough, pause and look. Let your mind wander to the dark sections, the open spaces that could be hiding a host of bad things. Inevitably, in most well-written books and more evident in scary movies, the characters start at Point A and have to traverse similar scenes to Point B. Isn’t it always the case? The exit is never right on their left, the one thing that can save them all is never clearly marked on their right. Not much else is needed, however, as our minds start connecting the pieces while creating the fear and panic without lengthy work from our favorite authors. A little goes a long way!

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 25th entry!-

Woods, fog, a single individual in the distance, friend or foe? The sense of direction is lost in moments like this, the cold dampness all around pressing against flesh is just the beginning.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our little run through frights and fears featured this month and I hope you find something useful in all my random scribbling. 🙂 If you want to share or leave a comment, do so, we’re all friends here…unless I’m tapping on your window late at night. 😉 Happy Hauntings!

Photo Credits- #1  Creepy Hallway. Photography / Horror & Macabre 2007-2018 InferiorArt

                           #2  Shadow Woods. Shutterstock 2018.  shutterstock_175709177.jpg