Fear of Injury

Welcome back for the twenty-second day of Writober. During this fourth week we’re exploring the universal fear of mutilation. Today we’re looking at fear of injury.

When I started looking into fear of injury, I discovered there are different phobias associated with fear of injury:

Traumatophobia – A fear of being physically hurt

Kinesiophobia – An excessive fear of physical movement and activity that can negatively impact sports performance.

Dystychiphobia – fear of causing or being involved in an accident.

Blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia – fear of blood, injuries, and injections.

Showing that there’s a lot to explore when it comes to fear of injury.

Rhetorical Device: slant rhyme

What is Slant Rhyme? from Masterclass.

Slant rhyme, also called imperfect rhyme, includes some rhetorical devices we’ve already talked about: familial rhyme, assonance, and consonance. Slant rhyme is a rhyme of words with sounds that are similar, but not the same. I especially like the Yeats example rhyming young with song.

Fighting Fear of the Blank Page: Start with a page full of text, cut it into short phrases, put the cut pieces into a bag or jar, and pull them out one at a time and paste them onto the page.

*Quick Note about links in this post: I am an amazon associate, so most of the links in my post will take you to amazon products. If you buy from these links, I will make some pennies which will help me pay for this site and my creative endeavors.

OctPoWriMo

Poetry Toolbox

These are quick exercises that I hope you’ll do every day. We will build on these exercises throughout the month.

Word list: Write down the first ten words you think of when you think of fear. Any words at all. Anything that comes to mind. Then choose your three favorite and say them aloud a few times until you hear the accented and unaccented syllables (if more than one syllable) and notice the duration of each syllable. Add the least connected exact rhyme, and the strangest slant rhyme. (Inspired by Frances Mayes’ list of a hundred favorite words in The Discovery of Poetry)

I created this Excel Spreadsheet for you to use to collect and explore your fear words.

OctPoWriMo wordlist Download

2. Sensory Imagery: In your journal or a word processing file, fill in these lines as quickly as you can. Notice they are slightly different from last week. You may want to revisit one or two in more detail if you’re inspired and have time.

I will see

I will hear

I will carry

I will smell

I will follow

The slice of

The pain of

I will taste

The color of

I will witness

I will touch

(Inspired by a week one exercise in the poetry chapter of The Portable MFA in Creative Writing)

3. More Sensory Imagery: Ask yourself sensory questions about fear of injury.

4. Choose a poetry collection: Read through the collection in order. Is there a theme, a story, repeating ideas that run through the collection? Which poems are your favorites? Which didn’t you like? Why?

Poetry Building

Slant rhyme – when looking for imperfect rhymes you might want to try B-Rhymes a near rhyme dictionary online.

Example poem: Today we’re looking at Love, Hope, Desire and Fear by Percy Bysshe Shelley, copied here from poemhunter.com for educational purposes.

Love, Hope, Desire, and Fear

Percy Bysshe Shelley

And many there were hurt by that strong boy,
His name, they said, was Pleasure,
And near him stood, glorious beyond measure
Four Ladies who possess all empery
In earth and air and sea,
Nothing that lives from their award is free.
Their names will I declare to thee,
Love, Hope, Desire, and Fear,
And they the regents are
Of the four elements that frame the heart,
And each diversely exercised her art
By force or circumstance or sleight
To prove her dreadful might
Upon that poor domain.
Desire presented her [false] glass, and then
The spirit dwelling there
Was spellbound to embrace what seemed so fair
Within that magic mirror,
And dazed by that bright error,
It would have scorned the [shafts] of the avenger
And death, and penitence, and danger,
Had not then silent Fear
Touched with her palsying spear,
So that as if a frozen torrent
The blood was curdled in its current;
It dared not speak, even in look or motion,
But chained within itself its proud devotion.
Between Desire and Fear thou wert
A wretched thing, poor heart!
Sad was his life who bore thee in his breast,
Wild bird for that weak nest.
Till Love even from fierce Desire it bought,
And from the very wound of tender thought
Drew solace, and the pity of sweet eyes
Gave strength to bear those gentle agonies,
Surmount the loss, the terror, and the sorrow.
Then Hope approached, she who can borrow
For poor to-day, from rich tomorrow,
And Fear withdrew, as night when day
Descends upon the orient ray,
And after long and vain endurance
The poor heart woke to her assurance.
—At one birth these four were born
With the world’s forgotten morn,
And from Pleasure still they hold
All it circles, as of old.
When, as summer lures the swallow,
Pleasure lures the heart to follow–
O weak heart of little wit!
The fair hand that wounded it,
Seeking, like a panting hare,
Refuge in the lynx’s lair,
Love, Desire, Hope, and Fear,
Ever will be near.

How does this poem make you feel? What stands out to you? Can you identify slant rhymes in the poem?

Today’s prompt: Write a poem exploring the fear of injury using slant rhyme anywhere in your poem.

Form: If you’re looking for more of a challenge, write your poem as a Terza Rima with slant rhymes.

Write your poem and post it to your site (blog/ website/ other), then post a link in the chat. You may also post your poem in the chat if you do not have a place to post it. If you are posting as “someone” or “anonymous,” please put your name at the end of the poem. Throughout the day, please check back when you can to read and encourage other poets, to learn from each other, and enjoy each other’s efforts.

Writober Flash Fiction

Write a story with a beginning, middle, and end with conflict that leads to change in less than a thousand words (no minimal word count) inspired by one of the images in the Mutilation folder of the Writober 2024 Pinterest board. How does fear of injury affect your character?

NaNo Prep

Now that we’ve brainstormed a lot of scenes, lets focus on our characters again. How do your characters’ voices differ? What is unique about how they sound, the words they use, sayings they use, sounds they make? Listen to your MC and your Antagonist. How are their voices consistently different from each other?

Halloween Photography Challenge

Take a photograph that depicts injury or fear of injury, and link to your photo in the chat.

Get Moving

Now that you’ve read all the prompts and have all these ideas running around in your head, it’s time for motion. Some suggestions:

Take a walk imagining your neighborhood’s haunted history tour. Where are the ghosts? How did they die? Uh, oh, is that one chasing you? Better move a little faster. 👻👻👻🎃