As I dive into researching signs of fear for my horror WIP, I wanted to share some of the most compelling and visceral reactions I’ve come across. Whether you’re writing a chilling scene or crafting a character’s panic, these 20 signs of fear can help bring tension and realism to your story.
Hyperventilating — sucking in air but never feeling like it’s enough
Chest tightens — feels like a weight or hands pressing down
Limbs shaking violently, knees buckling
Complete loss of muscle control — collapsing or unable to stand
Cold sweat soaking through clothes
Heart hammering so hard they feel it in their throat or head
Tunnel vision — the world narrowing down to one terrifying focal point
Ringing in the ears or sudden deafness, like the world drops away
Dizziness / feeling faint / vision blurring
Dry mouth — unable to speak or even scream
Screaming / sobbing / gasping — involuntary vocal outbursts
Panic run — bolting without thinking, tripping over everything
Clawing at their own skin / chest / throat — like trying to escape their body
Begging / pleading out loud even if no one’s there
Repeating words or phrases — “No, no, no” / “This isn’t happening”
Hiding instinctively — diving under tables, closets, or corners
Desperate grabbing — reaching for someone, anything solid
Loss of bladder or bowel control (for extreme terror)
Total mental shutdown — frozen, slack-jawed, staring blankly
Memory blackout — later can’t recall what happened during the worst moment
🐞🐈⬛🦊🐢 semi-formally bullied by @buggachat to do a screencap redraw of the newest Miraculous Ladybug episode. I also extend that request of seeing other artists do a redraw of the screencap to see these dorks in different styles! Ko-Fi
“As if we wouldn’t know”
BONUS
Some more Beyblade because wow, it’s so fun drawing these characters again. :3 The Majestics were my faves, even though they were rich snobby assholes.
Starting s6 with @buggachat ‘s challenge to draw the 4 (well one half of it)
[ mind of a wolf ]
Not that he had a choice, but he always willingly climbed into the tank for the next high. Surrounded by the warm water, he felt free and good. In reality, they drugged him every single time without him knowing. Maybe he suspected something, but he didn‘t care. He had the wildest trips in there, and no idea wether it lasted minutes or hours.
I think nothing on earth would make him talk about what he went through in the abbey.
I’m sitting on so many head canons about Yuriy ahh
Write that fic
Draw your OC
Redesign that blorbo
Plan that comic how you want
Create the content you want to see
Be cringe
Be free
The only thing that matters is you having fun! Not what others think!
Adrien with the bee miraculous! why not? my friend suggested we call him “Drone” which I thought was pretty metal so I’m keeping it
i like to tell myself that marinette didn’t ask chat noir to be the next guardian in case anything were to happen to her because she wanted to spare him of the burden that came with the role and to let him keep part of his freedom.
frankly it does make sense that marinette asked alya to be the next guardian since she knows her secret identity and has been by her side through a lot of the hardships that marinette had to go through in seasons 4 and 5, which in a sense could serve alya as a learning experience? but the main reason i think marinette didn’t choose chat noir as the next guardian is because she doesn’t know him 100% she only knows chat noir, she doesn’t know him outside of “work” which doesn’t mean she doesn’t trust him it just means that she needed someone that knew her secret identity, someone that she knew their secret identity, and someone that she knew she could truly entrust the miracle box to and all the teachings of being a guardian.
honestly i was one of the people that also thought she should’ve chosen chat noir but after thinking about it for a bit it made sense, but then i started thinking that a better option than alya would’ve been luka. this is just a silly opinion so don’t take it seriously, but i thought luka would’ve made a lot more sense than alya since he also knows marinette is ladybug and he literally trained with that other master, plus we know he can definitely keep a secret and he also knows chat noir’s identity in case of an emergency.
anyway these were just some thoughts i had, so please don’t take any of this seriously, and if there’s anything i missed or got wrong please kindly let me know in the comments (^^)
An amateur and very shy writer who loves looking at other people's fanart, especially YuKa and TyKa (Beyblade) and Klance.
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