Random Image Wednesday!-#22-Better Late than Dead
Ok, I messed up and I apologize. Usually the “on the ball” type of kind, I went out and got stuck adulting and lost all track of time and let Wednesday slip right on by. Have no fears fellow followers (save it for your reading and writing pleasures), we are back and ready to bring the fright train back on course as we chug along this month!
There’s something to be said about creepy forests. There’s something to be said about black and white photos that bring said creepy forest to a darker place. There’s also something to be said about strange hands coming out of odd places where we can only let our minds formulate worst-case scenarios while we wet ourselves in horror. That something that should be said is, “yes please” with any and all listed above.
Remember that I mentioned in the last posting about showing and not telling in your writing and about bringing the fear and frights to your audience without giving it all away? If you do, gold star and a cookie. If you don’t, well, backtrack to last week and give it a run. Sometimes, or rather, most times our minds are the biggest generators of the fear machine. We dream up, think up, or make up a certain level of fear just from trying to piece together what we see. That is where the showing and not telling works wonders. Give your audience a few crumbs and let their minds piece together the whole scene. Chances are our own inner demons, fears, and thought processes will generate a far greater scare than you, as a writer, could have possibly worked up. Psychologically speaking, we are our own worst enemies when it comes to piecing together our worst nightmares.
This week’s picture does it all. Creepy forest, check. Black and white photo with shadowy touches that do not allow us to know if it’s night or day, check. Creepy hands attached to nothing, attached to something that will make us think of the worst possible nightmares, check! Is there something behind there, under there, nowhere? It’s all cause for our minds to frantically try and make sense of what we are seeing which in turn gives our bodies time to bring the fear!
Just remember in writing, less is more when it comes to scares. Horror leaves it all on the table, creepy usually doesn’t offer up such graphic descriptions. Lead your readers to the dark corners of your writing and then, as you smirk a devilish grin, lock the door and walk away while their own minds do the heavy lifting. 
