Have you ever been caught out in fog so thick you could not see your hand in front of your face? Or maybe you were driving and the fog was so thick you could barely see where you were going. Some would be terrified at being caught in such a situation.
dense Seattle fog, wikimedia commons
A phobia is an extreme dread or fear of something. When a person encounters the object of his or her fear, he could experience anxiety, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, an irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, etc. While this person’s phobia may seem outrageous or unreasonable to you, I assure you it is not unreasonable to the person experiencing it. Nebulaphobia or homichlophobia is an intense and irrational fear of fog.
What is fog?
Fog is basically a cloud that forms on land instead of in the sky. There are different ways that fog is formed. Generally, it will form is when there is a lot of moisture in the air and a temperature difference between the air and the ground. No matter how or why the fog forms, it can be so thin that you hardly notice it, or it can be so thick that you feel you could cut through it with a knife.
fog over central Edinburgh, www.geograph.org.uk
A dense mass of fog is a fog bank. If a ship is surrounded by so much fog that it is unable to sail, it is fogbound. There are many other types of fog. Each name somehow relates to how and or where it was formed. Informaation on any of the following types of fog can easily be found on the internet: radiation fog, ground fog, advection fog, evaporation fog, Arctic sea smoke, precipitation fog, upslope fog or hill fog, valley fog, freezing fog, frozen fog, artificial fog, Garua fog, hail fog, San Francisco fog. Do you think it is possible that a person with nebulaphobia could fear only a specific type of fog?
What is fog made up of?
Fog is made up of water droplets so tiny that to form a single tablespoon of water you would need seven thousand million of them.
Synonyms
Talking about how terrible the fog is could get old, so there are many synonyms for fog that you can use: mist, haze, cloud, brume, sea smoke, vapor, pea soup, murk, smog, gloom. Which one you choose to use should depend upon the type of fog you are describing as well as the type of story you are writing.
Can you think of any other synonyms?
thick fog on the Beinn Ghlas ridge, www.geograph.org.uk
Descriptive Words and Phrases
There are also many descriptive words and phrases for fog. Why just say it is foggy? Instead say Fingers of fog reached into the village and wrapped themselves around every cottage. What are some of the words and phrases you can use to describe fog? Following are some of them: diaphanous, gossamer, nubilous, ethereal, veils, gauzy, sea’s breath, thick enough to curdle, as thick as New England clam chowder, thick enough to eat/shovel, creeping, dank, cloaking, shrouds, sheets of fog like the sails of Spanish galleons, ghosting over the water, wisps, fingers of fog clutching at ship riggings, soul-dampening, London fog.
Why not see if you can come up with some more ways of describing fog?
Why fear it?
Fog can be creepy, but it is a naturally occurring weather condition. Why would some people fear it? Well , there could be many reasons. They could fear getting lost in the fog. In really thick fog, it isn’t even possible to see your hand in front of your face. Maybe they fear their electricity will go out during the fog and they will be stranded in foggy darkness and unable to see anything around them. Who knows what else could be out there? Could there be evil creatures or psychotic killers lurking about? Maybe some vicious dogs have wandered into your vicinity. Possibly the fog itself could be alive and its intentions aren’t good.
Think about how fog is used in horror books and movies. Even if it isn’t a horror film, fog can be used to bring suspense into play. Of course, there has been at least one movie where fog was the main character. If I managed to live through something like what happens in the following scene from The Fog, the 1980 movie directed by John Carpenter, I would probably be terrified of fog. Could scenes like this one be a reason that some people fear what could be hidden in the fog?
What about brain fog?
Have you ever experienced times when your brain seems to be all fuzzy and loopy? I know I have lived through days like that. Could one with homichlophobia or nebulaphobia fear experiencing brain fog? Following are some words you could use to describe brain fog: muddle, confusion, daze, bewilderment, haze, stupor, disorientation, perplexity, mystification, vagueness.
girl writing, etc.usf.edu
Writing Prompts
You can make writing prompts out of real-life situations. One chilly fall morning, I had to run into town to pickup something. I can’t remember what. Anyway, the small town I live in is right on the Kentucky River. There was no fog around my house on this particular morning, but I live on the highest point in the county. It isn’t very often that I see fog up here. As I went down the hill into town though, the fog became so thick that I could barely see to drive. That was kind of creepy in itself.
I have never had a fear of fog, but I will admit that as I was entering town and noticed that my car was the only one on the road, creepy and disturbing thoughts began to run through my mind. Where was everyone? Had the rapture happened? Had I been left behind? Had aliens abducted everyone in my town? Was there some psychotic serial killer running rampant through town on this foggy morning?
Put a character of yours in the above situation. What happened? Are the townspeople safe? Is your character safe, or is there something evil lurking in the fog that will harm her when she gets closer? Why isn’t there anyone on the streets, and did the fog have something to do with it?
