: Re: What are ways to describe feelings of fear? What are some ways to write feelings of fear, such as: losing a loved one, almost dying, getting lost, getting yelled at by your overprotective mother

@Caterina108

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You could approach it from three different angles to get a good sense of the emotion:

Gut
Instinctive
Rational

Gut

This is the immediate physical sensation. You should use straightforward language to describe this, but also metaphors. You could think about all the different senses - taste, touch, sight, smell, sound. How are these experienced by your protagonist? How does it feel at skin level, but also internally?
Obviously they will be completely different depending on whether you're describing the person in the fire or the friend afterwards worrying about their friend.

Instinctive

This is the immediate physical response. Does the person jump back, run forward, crumple to the ground, start hitting themselves on the head... This isn't something they think about, it's something their body does automatically as an emotional response to the trauma.

Rational

Finally, when their brain has had a chance to catch up, what is their response? More of their personality will come out in the way they react. What words will they utter? What action will they take? Try to run and hide? Try to do anything to help, however futile? Start looking for someone or something to blame?

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