The Fear Mirror by Kasey Fallon
As an author, I’m multi-genre, but all of my works have underlying central themes rooted in psychology. In writing horror and psychological thrillers, I love winding the inner tensions of a character or situation tight. Horror is often dismissed as entertainment for people who like to be scared – and sometimes, sure. But it goes much deeper than that for trauma survivors.
People who have experienced trauma have entirely different brain chemistry than those who have not. Different parts of the brain fire under different stimuli, and for a lot of people with PTSD, fear becomes their central nervous system. Fear drives every response – every interpretation of daily life – every action and subconscious thought. PTSD can manifest in nightmares, hypervigilance, flashbacks – the effects are numerous, and they echo.
And those are the exact feelings and tensions that echo throughout horror. There exists a distinct, well-trodden path between the survivor and the fear. That fear can be explored; confronted, safely, within the confines of a book.
Through psychological tension and horrifying elements, we are able to capture the very essence of trauma; of fear. Reading about drowning evokes the terror of losing control. Drowning in your own blood? Even more so. Being stalked through pages lets us explore an encroaching sense of dread – from the safety of our own couch. When the main character figures out how to stop the monster, even if it means a sacrifice, we’re right there with them, confronting things that feel impossible to overcome. In many ways, we can heal through horror. Fear is the mirror we use in books when the world is far too painful.
“Well, none of that is realistic, how could it compare?” Because the reality of what is on the page is unimportant when the feelings they evoke are real. This is why we read. This is why I write.
