Intro

Spooky Season is here, so I thought that now would be the perfect time to talk about character fears. Fears are one of those things that I think a lot of people tend to overlook when they’re coming up with a character—and I’m often among those people. It’s understandable; when compared to all the other things you have to come up with when you’re creating a character, the stuff they’re afraid of doesn’t seem nearly as pressing. But trust me when I say that, even if you don’t think the character’s fears are going to have much to do with the plot, they can be extremely helpful to know.

Why? Because a character’s fears are often the key to creating tension and conflict in a story. Oftentimes, they’re the things that ultimately drive a character into action, kicking off their entire role in the story. Not only that, but they can also tell you a lot about the character’s values, past experiences, and inner struggles. So, yeah, no matter what type of story you’re writing, it’s always good to have some idea of what each character is afraid of, whether it ever comes up or not.

But how do you come up with fears for a character, and how do you use those fears in the story? Well, today I’m going to walk you through how I do it. So let’s get to it!

Reasons for Character Fears

Typically, I start thinking of a character’s fears only after I know the basics of their backstory, personality, and the things that are important to them—largely because those three factors are often the main ones that help me determine what they’d be afraid of. Allow me to explain why.

We’re all probably familiar with how a character’s backstory can be the reason why they’re afraid of something. Something traumatic happened in their past that left them emotionally (and maybe physically) scarred, and now they’re afraid of either the thing/person that caused their trauma or something that they’ve come to strongly associate with the event. (Or maybe both.) Like when the protagonist is deathly afraid of the antagonist after the antagonist killed their parents in front of them, or like when a character is terrified of large bodies of water because they almost drowned once in their past. These are both great, very valid reasons for a character to be afraid—but I do want to point out that personal experiences aren’t the only things from a character’s backstory that can make them scared of something. Other options could be that they knew someone who had something bad happen to them, or simply that they were taught to be afraid of something by their caretakers and/or culture. Sure, it’s not as dramatic as having it come from personal experience, but there are lots of real people who came to fear things in these ways, and sometimes it’s the best option.

The things that are important to a character can also be a pretty strong indicator of what they’d be afraid of, though they might not always be as obvious a source as the backstory. But, if you know what’s important to them, you can probably assume that they’d be afraid of being without that thing. So, if you’ve got a character who loves their friends above all else, they’d surely be terrified of the thought of losing them. Or, if you have a character who loves to play piano, they’d probably be afraid of being injured in such a way that they could never play again. (In case you haven’t noticed, these are the types of fears that I usually consider the meanest for a writer to make come true.) Unlike a fear that stems from a backstory, a character might not always be aware that they have this fear, until something happens that shines a light on it.

Personality can also play a role in what a character is afraid of. Although there are obviously exceptions, a lot of people who share the same personality traits tend to share the same general fears. Like, people who are shy tend to be afraid of being the center of attention or having to talk to large groups. And people who are perfectionists tend to be afraid of failure or judgment. A lot of the time, there isn’t really a dramatic backstory to these types of fears; they’re just a person’s natural response to what they perceive as a threatening situation, due to their own personal tendencies. Which makes these sorts of fears a great option for not only introducing some tension, but also for showcasing a character’s personality.

Of course, there are fears that don’t come from these three sources; most people who are afraid of things like spiders or heights, for example, don’t actually have something like a traumatic past experience with them or some personality trait that results in them fearing them. These fears are totally valid too—in fact, I encourage giving your characters some of these apparently-sourceless fears, because all real people have them, so it makes your characters feel more believable when they have them too. Just know that, unless you’re writing a story intended for a very young audience, you usually can’t really rely on these sorts of fears to add much tension to the story. In stories meant for older audiences, they usually work best as fun little quirks that might cause a few minor inconveniences or discomforts, but have no impact on the overall plot.

The reason for this is simple: Older audiences expect something deeper. When you want a character’s fear to be a major roadblock in the way of them achieving one—or all—of their goals, it’s always much more dramatic and impactful if there’s a clear reason for their fear. This allows audiences to emphasize with them and start to guess how the character’s going to persevere. (Assuming they persevere at all, of course.) It also just makes the character seem much more complex and well-thought-out, which is never a bad thing to have.

Coming Up With Character Fears

Now that I’ve walked you through the reasons why a character could fear something, let’s start talking about using those reasons to come up with the actual fears themselves.

To figure out the exact things that a character is afraid of, I first consider their backstory, the things that are important to them, and their personality. I see if there’s anything there that I can use as the basis for a fear. Any traumatic events or lessons, things they can’t live without, or insecurities could be a perfect base to build on.

If I notice while I’m doing this that the character in question doesn’t have anything that I can build off of, it’s usually a sign that the character as a whole needs more fleshing out. If you run into this problem, you could go back and add something, or you can do what I usually wind up doing in this situation: I choose a fear for the character, then I come up with the reason for it. Like, if I decide I want the character to be afraid of the dark, but it’s not based on something I already have established for them, I can say they’re afraid of the dark, then come up with a backstory reason or something for why that is. Ideally, I could even tie it into their existing backstory, but coming up with something totally new is perfectly fine too. For this example, maybe I already know this character is a former soldier, so I could say that their fear of the dark stems from a traumatic experience they had during their military days, like some nighttime attack that was full of confusion and terror. You could do this with literally every fear out there, which is what makes this such a great approach.

Obviously, there’s an infinite number of fears that a character could potentially have, and a just as infinite number of reasons why they could have them, so I can’t possibly go over them all. But, if you’re having trouble coming up with fears, I recommend looking up lists of phobias online; they can really help get the ideas flowing, and even introduce you to fears that you never would have thought of otherwise. My personal favorite is Verywell Mind’s “List of Phobias: Common Phobias From A to Z”. As I go through a list like this, I try to look for fears that I could imagine the character having—fears that seem to make sense for them, based on their backstory, the things that are important to them, and their personality.

How I Use Character Fears in a Story

Once I know what the character is afraid of, the next step is incorporating those fears into the story. They could be a huge part of the story, providing the primary motivation and/or being the single biggest obstacle that the character has to overcome to complete their arc. Or they could be a smaller part of it, serving mostly just as a side plot to make the character feel deeper and more fleshed out. Whichever one works for the story I have in mind.

Fear as a Motivation

Using fear as a character’s motivation to embark on their literal or figurative journey is a common approach, and there are several ways to go about it. One option is to have it that the character is a reluctant hero, and the only reason they stepped out of their comfort zone is because staying there would have meant their fear coming true. Over the course of the story, their experiences could give them a more heroic motivation. Fear is also a good motivation for any character who’s going to have a negative arc, because fear has a tendency to make people make poor decisions, even if they don’t have ill intent. It’s also easy to incorporate fear into more apparently-heroic motivations. For example, if your hero’s mission is to save a loved one from a dangerous enemy, it’s obvious that a big part of their motivation is fear of losing that person.

No matter how their fear motivates them or what direction their arc is going to go from there, it’s important that I make sure I show the reader why the character is so afraid of this thing that they’ll go to such lengths to avoid it. If the reason comes from their backstory or the things they love, I usually like to explain it either through a conversation or a full-fledged flashback, depending on which feels the most appropriate.

Fear as an Obstacle 

When I want to use the character’s fear as an obstacle getting in the way of them achieving their goal, I usually first make sure that it makes sense for their fear to get in their way. Like, if they have a paralyzing fear of heights, that has to mean that some crucial part of their journey will require them to go someplace high up. Otherwise, using this fear as an obstacle isn’t going to work all that great for me, because it would be easy for the character to just avoid confronting it altogether. (And, trust me, they should want to avoid it. As writers, we have to find ways to naturally force them.)

When exactly this fear is overcome depends largely on its importance to the overall story. Typically, if I want it to pack the most punch, it’s best to do it around the climax but, if it’s a smaller side plot, it can happen in other places too. As for how the character conquers their fear, that depends a lot on the character and the circumstances in which they do the conquering. A lot of the time, writers get the character to overcome their fear by doing things like making them have to do it in order to save a loved one from imminent doom, or just by putting the fear between them and something that they really, really want. And then, after they realize they overcame it once in a moment of desperation, they know they can do it again, so they stop being so scared. Another way of doing it could be to have the character learn more about the thing they’re afraid of, eventually leading to them understanding it and realizing it’s not as bad or insurmountable as they thought. It could also be that, in order to stop being afraid of the thing, the character has to address some sort of personal insecurity that’s telling them to be afraid of it and, once they’ve worked on their insecurity, their fear fades. It could even be a combination of all these things and more; again, it largely depends on the character and the story I’m telling.

Fear as a Side Plot

In this approach, the fear has little impact on the main plot, but it does inconvenience the character a bit as they try to accomplish their goal. It’s totally possible for the character to achieve their primary objective without overcoming their fear, but doing so would further their personal arc and give them some peace of mind.

Things like PTSD often show up as side plots in fiction, especially in genres like fantasy and sci-fi, and it probably provides the easiest way to explain how this can work. Let’s go back to our former soldier who’s afraid of the dark, for instance; maybe, while their soldier days are over, they now have to embark on a lengthy quest to save the land they once fought for from some manner of dark lord. In order to achieve this, they’re going to have to do a lot of travel—which, in a fantasy setting, likely means a lot of camping out in the darkness. The darkness brings back unpleasant flashbacks from that dreaded nighttime attack that caused their trauma, leaving them unable to sleep and generally miserable. As you can guess, this is very bad for them, but not necessarily something that would stop them from defeating the dark lord. (Though it might do a number on their resolve and make them consider abandoning their efforts.) Thus, it’s a side conflict that mostly contributes by adding tension, giving the character a personal conflict where they might be lacking one otherwise, and giving them an obvious weakness.

Knowing how the fear will contribute to the story is important; I don’t want to just throw stuff in for the sake of throwing stuff in, even when the fear is just a side conflict. I want it to have some sort of impact on the larger story, aside from just adding tension. These impacts don’t have to be huge; they could just be highlighting a character’s weakness or giving them a personal conflict, like I mentioned earlier. They could also be used in less obvious ways, like to foster connection between two characters. No matter what, I have to know what that reason is, to ensure that the inclusion of the side plot feels necessary.

I also want to mention that fears that serve as side plots don’t always have to be resolved by the end of the story. Because they don’t have to be overcome for the plot to play its course, they can remain relatively unchanged. A lot of the time, these fears (especially if they’re based on past trauma) wind up being things that never totally go away, and the character has to learn to manage it and live with it, maybe eventually overcoming it at some point after the story is over. Sometimes, this is the best—and most realistic—option, as some fears are too complex to realistically be conquered in the span of time that the story covers, especially if the fear in question isn’t a main focus of the plot.

Outro

That’s all for today’s post. I hope you found this interesting! If you did, be sure to check out my other writing posts, and to visit again next month for the next one. As always, thanks for reading!