What scares you? Talk, Discuss, Create

Emma Dalrymple, a former psychology lecturer, contacted me recently to ask if she could to use some of the exercises in Back to Creative Writing School at an event she was organising at the end of October.

When I found out what it was all about I was very happy to agree. Over to Emma

As we prepare for the darker months and Halloween, can literature and psychology be used to understand our fears? Inspiro is designed to bring together content from the worlds of literature, psychology and art to stimulate discussion and creativity. The first Inspiro event is ‘What scares you?’ on Saturday 26th October from 11am till 2pm in a beautiful Georgian villa overlooking parklands in the centre of Perth  https://www.facebook.com/PerthSubudCentre/?locale=en_GB .  

Perhaps being exposed to and even creating our own scary stories can help us find if not inner peace (disclaimer: no guarantees) but some deeper understanding.

We are delighted to have award-winning Gothic author Helen Grant https://www.helengrantbooks.com/  talk about her works and inspiration.

There will be plenty of time to discuss with like-minded souls and after refreshments we will end the day with some creative writing activities inspired by Bridget Whelan https://bridgetwhelan.com/2021/01/23/the-horror-the-horror-how-to-scare-readers/ .

For the princely sum of £35 we invite you to a day of creative rest and rejuvenation (with a few jump scares in time for Halloween!). To book your place please email inspiro24@outlook.com  or visit www.facebook.com/inspiro20/

Psychology might suggest our fears are learned (parents scared of spiders?) or innate (are we biologically programmed to avoid things that may harm us?) but as always literature allows us to explore the psychology of fear in much more fascinating detail.

The best stories seem to be the subtlest- not scary spiders or gruesome beasts but the more frightening unravelling of individual fears. Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories illustrate the power of fiction perfectly.  I can still hear the hammering from The Tell Tale Heart and vividly imagine the brick wall in The Cask of Amontillado and these details help to imprint the message from the main characters. That we might all succumb to irrational fears that lead us to lash out, that we harbour simmering resentment of our friends and wish them harm but that our conscience keeps these thoughts from turning into action.

And if not, well Poe reminds us of the consequences in terrifying detail https://bridgetwhelan.com/2012/10/29/monday-creative-writing-exercise-because-its-a-good-way-to-start-the-week-psychological-horror/ .

Reading literature has often been recommended as therapy, as the only true way to understand the complexity of this world, what if we take these stories as inspiration to write our own?  There may be no happy ending but the devil in the details of our imagination might just be enough to keep the darkness at bay.

Picture credit 1: Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
Picture credit 2: Helen Grant
Picture credit 3:  Original daguerreotype by Edwin H. Manchester, Rhode Island, on November 9th, 1848.