Describing Fear

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:4

Fear is a re-occurring emotion in fiction especially in thrillers. Use the following examples to accurately describe the level of fear your character is experiencing.

A stab of fear

A prick of fear

These thoughts are like needles jabbing at my skin

Fear/ sweat prickles over my skin

All of my anxieties come tumbling back

Dizzying sense of anxiety

It sends a brusque bolt of shock right through me

A bullet of panic rises in my throat

Eyes darkened with worry

Darkness gathered in her eyes and filled it

My stomach flips

Paralyzed by fear

Consumed by paranoia

Vibrating with anxiety

Wobbling with shock

Fear crawls over my body, prickling my skin

Fear squeezes the air from my lungs

A blind panic

Worry gnaws away at me

I sigh with despair

An icy cold calm washes over me chilling thought

All I feel is desperate despair

I feel a rush of fear

My stomach churns

Panic surges through me

I feel a dull ache in my chest

My throat squeezes shut

A deep sense of uneasiness held me rigid

Her gaze went through me like a blast of Ice

She gave me a quick nervous glance

She threw me a warning glance

She drew a sharp breath

I could hear the slow, dragging beat of my heart

My heart was clenching with dread

She felt a sharp bolt of fear

She felt a flutter of panic

It gave me chills

She made terrible, strangled sounds

I felt as if I couldn’t breathe

The weight of my anxiety

I said with alarm

Fear chilled my heart

Her face was a mask of alarm

I felt my spirits sink

I felt my chest constrict

I swallowed hard

I was frowning with worry

He was overcome by a flat sense of depression

My heart gave a lurch

My heart was hampering in my chest

She looked at me with fear in her eyes

Rigid with fear

Choked with horror

A harassing anxiety

Frozen in silence

I realized with a kind of panic

There was a faint note of hysteria in her eyes

My nerves were on fire

His eyes were lined with anxiety

I watched with numb horror

Tumbling anxiety

His eyes were flat with resignation

Feeling the cursing wave of despair

Her face grew dramatically stricken

My muscles stiffened

Panic bloomed in my chest

His eyes were big and worried

An anxious expectancy rose in his chest

She turned pink with distress

My heart turned cold

My insides dropped with disappointment and fear

Ravaged with despair

Chagrined – feel distressed to humiliated – he was chagrined when his friend poured scorn on him.

His face was flat and white

Our throats clenched

My breath caught in my throat

Her eyes jumped with fear

He went cold at the thought

A child crept through him

A tingling dread crept through her body

He glanced urgently at her, eyes wide, sweat beading on his lip

His heart was thundering

His face turned grey

The words thudded in his skull

Dread crawled up his spine

His pulsed raced

Filled with dread

A shuddering sigh

Churning in his gut

I took a hot, impatient breath

My blood went cold

I saw a glint of fear in her eye

A twinge of fear

Mu insides tighten

Fear prickled at the base of my spine

Her pulse skyrocketed

Her knees buckled

My skin prickles

Panic roared through me

She felt a tingling coarse through her

Her voice was shaking

My stomach / Legs / insides turn to jelly

My voice was frozen in my throat

The hair on my arms / back of my neck stand up

Anxiety gnaws at me 

My heart jack hammers

My mind is roaring with panic

I startle awake

The shrill sound had made her heart take flight

My throat thickens

My heart buckled

A tangled mass of anxiety

I feel sick with fear

The hairs on my arm prickle

A sense of menace

They stare in silent horror

Hi face was white with fear

Eyes wide with fear

She felt the blood drain from her face.

Sweating with nerves

He looks at her in growing horror

Her anxiety, spiking

She feels a terrible anxiety creeping over her

A troubled sleep

A clutch of fear at her heart

I feel light headed as if I might be sick

He feels a tremor of fear go up his spine

The ensuing silence is one laden with terror

She feels the bile rising in her throat

Her adrenaline surges

Frozen in disbelief

A chilll creeps over her like cold fingers over her body

Adrenaline shoots through her system

Her heart begins to beat wildly

Her heart knocking at her ribs

He can feel himself unravelling

She blanches slightly

A suggestion of panic

I take a sharp breath in

Fear rushes over her, a dark suffocating wave

Cold fingers of fear brushed against her neck

Bile rising in her throat

Her heart was thudding at the back of her throat

A mask of blank terror

Something inside her wrenched and soured

A flash of white, hot terror

Her heart seized

She felt a clutch of fear

Paper thin nerves

His legs went weak

The blind terror on her face

Rising tide of panic

A spark of fear

HIs knee began to judder under the desk

A lick of fear went up his spine

A stifling wave of fear swept over me

A terrible sickening dread came over me

The sight of him slows my blood

Fear shimmers through out my body. It’s hard to breathe

Fury seizes me

Panic shoots through me

The panic thrums

He takes a shaky breath

His chest tightened

Unease unfurled in her chest

An icy current went up and down my spine.

I felt sweat cling to the back of my neck, dampening my hair

A thrill of fear

My nerves jangle

My chest constricted and my throat closed

A fist of panic squeezes me inside

She stood with alarm

Her spine tingling with fear

She watches, her nerves splintering

A scream rumbled up her throat

Her throat closed up in terror

A slike of anxiety