Challenge Fear Factor Friday - Discussion Thread and Index - New Halloween Challenge--due Nov. 4

Welcome to the Fear Factor Friday Discussion and Index Thread.

Our goal is to encourage and discuss "fear" and "angst" in stories. We all know fear and overcoming our own weaknesses. With this challenge we want to dive into the weaknesses and fears of our beloved characters and how they cope with it.


General FFF rules:
1.) Stories posted within the FFF challenge should be 'angsty' or deal with a fearful situation
2.) One Friday will be picked and that's the day the entries shall be posted
3.) Any timeframe, any character, any fandom - we don't want to restrict you in any way
4.) keep the TOS in mind
5.) Have fun!


First FFF: extended to Friday, March 04th Challenge: Your character finds himself / herself in a situation that he or she cannot get out of unless they face their worst fears.

 

*reserved for Index*

 

Well, how cool is this!

 

So, NSWFF is a go? Sweet.

 

Awesome, I'm so doing this.

 

Thanks dear ladies!
Great to see there is interest in this!

To start the discussion about writing angst and fearful stories:
Do you enjoy placing our dear lovely characters into dreadful situations where there seems to be no chance of escape and keep your readers in suspense with it?
Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?
It?s a known fact that characters can get a mind of their own and not behave the way we intend it to happen. I kind of hate it when they do that and suddenly I find myself being forced to write what the character wants instead of me writing what I intended to.

 

I love putting my characters into situations that are difficult for them to master.

But that's what life is, right?

I try and keep my stories as real as possible, at least emotionally wise, and angst and fear are definately two things that everyone has to deal with.

The first challenge is so awesome -- my muse hasn't kept quiet since this morning.

Sometimes it gets difficult because I have to sit back and ask myself how would this character react to this situation? Every character is different so every character would react differently. I put a lot of thought into certain reactions before I write it down.

 

I will read/write angst if it fits the context of the plot and if the fear the person is facing is compatible with their experiences and I like it when they react in a way that is IC -- spurious or sadistic angst makes me crazy -- "let's torture the characters" and make them act like they never would.

I also like stories that delve into unknown and/or unconscious fears.

J/J fans will know what this is referring to: maybe Jaina has a fear of commitment that's why in profic she gives him the runaround -- although in fanfiction, she has her head on straight.

 

I don't think there's a character out there I haven't scared spitless at one point or another.

"Do you enjoy placing our dear lovely characters into dreadful situations where there seems to be no chance of escape and keep your readers in suspense with it?
Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?"

Answer 1: Every day.
Answer 2: One of those things that is very rewarding.


Case in point 1: Lest Ye Be Judged

The entire story is one long suspense about whether or not Anakin Skywalker will be killed at the end of the story. THere were lots of mini-suspenses, but that was the coolest thing I've ever had to write. And then I got to sit back and eat popcorn while people yelled at me and sobbed. And the readers didn't like me, either.

Case in point 2: Wife of Deceit, book 2

THis was a suspense that took me by surprise. The entire point of the second book of this five-book series was the First Lady's imprisonment for almost a month. Many little suspenses again, such as the fact that she might have a miscarriage, be executed, tortured, etc. But then I get her out of there through very scary experience, she gets home and I start the plot of AOTC without realizing that Mrs. Palpatine sees that she's been held hostage, her husband's Queen has been the subject of several assassination attempts and they don't if those things are related, so this might be just the beginning of everything. I was very shocked when I put that together.

 

Ah, a place to indulge the angst-kick that's been on my brain for a long time.

Do you enjoy placing our dear lovely characters into dreadful situations where there seems to be no chance of escape and keep your readers in suspense with it?

Altogether too much for my own good. I like playing with people's minds and I like very much psychological horror, and therefore do enjoy angst and fear and suspense.

Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?

Not really. Most of my angsty stories come from times when I'm not in a good place mentally, and some of my all-time favorite angst has come from being really a psychological mess. It really helps deal with emotions, and since I write a lot of NJO and after stories, there are plenty of places for angst in my work. It's really just channelling my state of mind and putting it into words.

 

Do you enjoy placing our dear lovely characters into dreadful situations where there seems to be no chance of escape and keep your readers in suspense with it?

Hmmm, I don't know. Once in awhile I do but I also like happy endings.

I love hurt/comfort, though, it's probably my favorite genre to write and to read, and I don't know how that fits in with liking to write angst.

Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?

I think it can be difficult to write an angsty story that's believable. Like Jade_eyes said, there's angst that fits with the plot and then there's angst for the sake of angst.

 

Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?

For me it was finding the happy rather than the angst that was hard. I spent the majority of an entire story looking for mush at one point because it started in a very dark place, went somewhere insane (which was a relief), and ended up right back where I started with the angst from whence it came. So no, for me angst isn't too difficult. And that said... I'm in, muse and plot bunnies permitting.

 

For me, my stories are by and large dark, so the hard part is trying to find what other genres they fit into. For example, in the aforementioned Mrs. Palpatine story, the entire story is dark because of the foundation of lies, the war and political struggle, but darn it, it's supposed to be a love story!

 

Is fear of being weak a fear (for the context of this challenge)?

 

After having caught up with the escaped Hoojibs I finally manage to post here:

Ceillean
It?s true, not all is lovely dovey and life can be hard and mean enough.
Just today I had a moment where I thought what is really important? You struggle yourself up to catch those evil escaped Hoojibs (you might have guessed it already - I am a professional Hoojib catcher ) and then there is this one moment where you think ?is it really that important?? after all the Hoojibs could be caught tomorrow as well and what would happen if they are not caught today?

Of course, nobody is the same and all react different to the same situation. Otherwise you just can switch names and faces - and get the same soup warmed up


Jade_eyes
The question is, how?d you know how a character reacts to a situation new to them? Much depends on the author and how he/she thinks the character might react based on what he/she knows about the character.
I suppose a fair enough response to ?context of the plot? concerning of angst would be that even mush should be fit the ?context of the plot? and not just be written as mush to have mush? Just a thought.

I think not that Jaina is afraid of commitment - after all she is very dedicated to being a Jedi and embraces what this means - especially for her being named ?Sword of the jedi?.
Maybe her fear is that her life as Jedi doesn?t allow her the commitment she wants to give him and therefore she backs away?


DarthIshtar
Hehe, well who has not been scared?
Maybe I should check out this ?Lest Ya Be Judged?. The title sounds very much like something Jar Jar Binks would say at least to my ears. Or is it eyes?
I suppose your readers just told you they not like you but they do if they stayed around I?d say

I suppose the thought alone that there have been a Mrs. Palpatine scared your readers

Putting a story into a genre depends on the POV I think. Some might say ?love story? and others go ?where the heck do you see a love story in it?!?.


SithGirl132

Yes that would be definitely the place
A well done angsty story can be awesome and keeps you tied to the story till it ends. There are plots out there where you feel like strangling the author for ending the post with a cliffhanger and keep you hanging there till there is the next post.

Yeah it?s true the NJO and afterwards is the right setting for angst and the chaos the war have left the far far away galaxy in. Canon doesn?t deal with the traumas left at all.


anakin_girl

An angsyt story doesn?t mean it can?t have a happy ending.


DaenaBenjen42

YAY for participating - maybe I should send you hoojibs instead of the bunnies
I know what you mean.
Yesterday I started writing my Valentine song fic and suddenly I find myself in the situation that he is upset with her - sithspit I do not even know why he is upset and what she has done. maybe they cooperate at some point and tell me their problem
After all they are supposed to be happy together not upset


G_Anakin
I suppose being afraid of being weak, to not manage something is a rather common fear and it certainly qualifies to be right for the context of this challenge.
Afraid of being weak or not depends on the scale ahead to overcome, attending a test is and being afraid to fail it is different then going out to fight a SSD single handed

 

[b[Do you enjoy placing our dear lovely characters into dreadful situations where there seems to be no chance of escape and keep your readers in suspense with it?[/b]

I do and I don't. When I'm in the brainstorming stage coming up with plot lines and scenes, I often come up dreadful situations where there's no real escape. But then when I start writing the characters in them, I feel sorry for them and start to look for excuses to help them out. Drives me nuts.

Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?

Short ones are easy, but long ones get exhausting and I end up turning those into humour fics.

It?s a known fact that characters can get a mind of their own and not behave the way we intend it to happen. I kind of hate it when they do that and suddenly I find myself being forced to write what the character wants instead of me writing what I intended to.

Me too! It forces me to keep rewriting the plot. But sometimes their insane ideas improve the story and make it less predictable, so I can't stay too mad.

 

Maybe I should check out this ?Lest Ye Be Judged?. The title sounds very much like something Jar Jar Binks would say silly at least to my ears. Or is it eyes?

Only if Jar-Jar were to begin speaking Old English...

 

LYBJ is the John Grisham novel of Star Wars. Vader surrenders post-Endor and is put on trial with his daughter as his defense attorney. It gets extremely complicated and finished up at 365,000 words. And the Mrs. Palpatine story, people just squirm a lot at all the implied nookie.

 

Do you enjoy placing our dear lovely characters into dreadful situations where there seems to be no chance of escape and keep your readers in suspense with it?

I enjoy it so very much! I love making my readers gasp or get mad at me. However there is a fine line between dreadful situations and over the top "series of unfortunate events"

Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?

I don't have trouble coming up with the scenarios I think the harder part and the bit that makes or breaks most angst is in the characters reactions and emotional responses. Those are hard to create and yet if the writer can pull it off they are what makes angst memorable.

 

I'm not sure I'd put 'angst' in with this, but that could just be me. I am all up for some epic horror though.

 

I've got an idea for the first FFF, now here is hoping I get the chance to write it!

Do you enjoy placing our dear lovely characters into dreadful situations where there seems to be no chance of escape and keep your readers in suspense with it?
Um... that would be a big old resounding, yes, lol. I don't always intend for it to be that way but it seems to happen. As a writer I do enjoy the reaction you get out of people when you put beloved characters in angsty situations. When people are in suspence and want to know what is going to happen, it makes it even more enjoyable for me to write.
As a reader those tend to be my favorite kind of story, especially when it includes hurt/comfort. Being in a profession where I see death quite often you would think I wouldn't want to read or write such things, but I often do.


Do you think it difficult to write angsty stories?
For me, quite the opposite. I will intend to write a happy or even funny story and angst always manages to creep in. I had a friend who once told me I was a "sappy, sappy murderer" because I usually manage to kill someone (often a main character) and still make it somewhat happy. I'm not exactly sure what all this says about me and I'm not sure I really want to know.

 

I don't even know how to define 'angst'. So I really have no iea if I write it and if it good/difficult/I like it.

I'll keep an eye on this and wait for enlightenment and revelations.

 

Okay... went and looked it up, because fear and angst can go hand in hand but are not necessarily the same thing...

Angst vs. Fear... while both can make you want to crawl into a corner and hide, angst can also be defined as drama (and a mulling over something bad and wrong), while fear is a straight up emotion. For instance: someone can be afraid of dogs, have a phobia of a particular kind of dog, and thereafter this phobia can be the cause of angst and wanting to just leave because a dog is present at all. And don't mind me, I'm relating things to cynophobia out of habit. (cynophobia is the phobia of dogs)

Does that help you understand it better?

 

As far as I have seen there is one entrance for the challenge having ended yesterday.
Since I also saw that mavjade showed interest and wrote that she totally forgot about it - how about we extend it for a week and give us all a couple days more to write what we wanted to.
I've to admit - didn't manage it either on time

so for the first challenge: 04th March - new deadline

 

Awesome!

Yeah, I completely forgo! I had been thinking it was coming up and then it was gone from my mind!

Now, hopefully the muse will cooperate with the little bunny.