In this article, I’m going to tell you about some of the unusual phobias that begin with the letter “A”, and suggest a writing exercise for each one. Have fun with them!

Acarophobia is an irrational fear of small insects or other bugs, such as ticks and mites, or the itching caused by their bites. A person with acarophobia would also fear a skin infestation by these insects. Just the thought of a skin infestation by any type of insect is enough to give me nightmares, so maybe I suffer from this phobia just a little!

This would be a great phobia to use in a horror story. Steve (or whatever name you choose) has always been afraid of small insects or bugs, he just hadn’t realized to what extent. One of his employees has noticed how he seems to freak totally out anytime an ant is seen, a bee, or a fly is seen flying around the room. This employee devises a plan to befriend Steve, even though Steve has been rather mean to him and all of his co-workers. Once this has been accomplished and Steve believes that they are friends, he invites him to a cookout. A pit is dug and covered so that it isn’t visible. Steve is tricked into walking right on top of it. He falls into the ground, only to find himself in a hole that has been filled with small insects. Steve doesn’t return from the cookout.

Acerophobia is the fear of things that taste sour, such as lemons or pickles. Why would a person be afraid of their sour taste? I really don’t know, unless maybe he was forced to eat bunches of pickles or lemons anytime he got in trouble as a child. I’ve never known anyone to receive that as a punishment. Or this fear could be associated with a traumatic event in someone’s life, such as a little girl with a lemonade stand witnessed her dad hurting her mom while she was setting her lemonade stand up. So now she associates sour lemons with her dad hurting her mom.

Write a story about someone with acerophobia. Her fear centers mainly around pickles. Unfortunately, her family owns a pickle factory. Why is she so afraid of pickles? How does she handle having to always be around pickles?

Many little kids are afflicted with achluophobia, or fear of the darkness and night. Most outgrow this fear, but there are some who don’t. I’m sure that a lot of you had this fear when you were little (I know I did), so you may actually have memories of how it felt.

Use these memories and write a story about an adult whose fear of the dark never went away. This young lady has reason to fear the dark, though. Something is after her and it only comes out at night. No matter where she goes, no matter how hard she works to hide from this creature, it always finds her. On this particular night, she is exhausted both physically and mentally from evading this creature, so she simply gives up. Something amazing happens when the she finally encounters the creature that she has run from for so long. What happens?

Acousticophobia is the fear of noise. I doubt that a person afflicted with this phobia would be a member of a band of any kind.

Explore the world of fantasy with this phobia. Deirdre has acousticophobia, but it isn’t a problem since she lives in 1566. It is a lot noisier in today’s world than it was then. Anyway, she wakes up one morning and it is 2010. There is so much noise that it scares and confuses her. Why was she transported into the future? How does she handle what happened? Does she manage to get back to the time in which she belongs?

Acrophobia is fear of heights. Someone with this fear probably wouldn’t want to go mountain climbing, jump out of an airplane, or look down over the top of Niagara Falls.

Darla’s 3-year-old son has been kidnapped by his father. Darla was on vacation at Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky. She was just walking the trails with her son when her ex jumped out of nowhere and grabbed her son. Darla has a fear of heights and her psychotic, abusive ex knows this, so he runs straight to the top of the bridge. He assumes that Darla will come nowhere near the top, but he underestimates how much she loves her son. What happens?

Feel free to post any of the short stories you write in the Fiction Writing forum.