Fear is produced by the hormonal release as triggered by the brain. It’s physical, emotional, mental, and even spiritual. I have given examples below, which describe fear, but it's in your capabilities to decide to use the example that best fits your scene.
- Holding one’s breath
- Going silent (especially when you are not sure what’s going on. It’s particularly effective when an entire group of people go silent when the lights start flickering in the room and the building shakes a little)
- Giving communicative signals of submissiveness and deference
- A shiver ran through me/ up and down the spine
- Fright crawling up the spine
- Hands shaking/trembling
- Legs wobbly (may crumple to the ground or limply fall)
- Fingers fumbling (unable to use a key to unlock the door etc)
- Hair rising (on the back of the neck(nape) or hands or arms etc)
- Hair stood on ends (Muscles at the base of each hair become tighter, causing piloerection, which is colloquially called goosebumps. When a human’s hair stands on end, it doesn’t make much of a difference to their appearance, but for more hirsute animals, it makes them seem larger and more formidable.)
- Tendons standing out in the neck with a visible pulse
- Voice shaky, stuttering, mispronouncing words, tremors in voice
- Voice going shrill (high pitch); rising an octave
- Lowering the voice to a whisper
- Limbs going numb
- Closing your eyes (eyes pressed shut)
- Eyes appearing damp and overly bright
- Eyes staring in disbelief
- Eyes bulging from their sockets
- Crazed look
- His eyes took on a haunted look
- Muscles around the eyes twitching
- Eyes in wide circles
- Eyes transfixed with horror; watching with numbed/fascinated horror
- Crying
- Deliberately crying in order to pull on people’s heartstrings
- Eyes pleading
- Vision blurring
- Staring but not seeing
- Rapid blinking; he blinked sweat from his eyes
This is just a preview of 30 examples.
The main document expounds the emotion extensively.
The full list of over 380 examples is available on Patreon.
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