INTRODUCTION FOR THE Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobics
I love lists. I know I’m not alone: I could write a whole list of people fond of lists.
They are are always a good starting point for stories, characters which need for coherence. Lists are reassuring: they give the illusion, to creators, to have control on something and to whom who read them, that there should be some kind of order in things.
As it often happens to me, I came by chance in a list of phobias; a sort of paradox in which there is a (re-assuring) list of fears of losing controls…
It is a weird list and it is interesting in itself: to imagine someone who might suffer of one of those fears made it a rich character for a tale.
In reality, apart of the pains which phobias give to us, I found funny that some professional in psych-something worked and found weird names to classify them: Someone has to have a good sense of humor to give the name Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia to the fear of LONG words!
I won’t make other examples which would be enough to make a whole book, just check out these lists: (in english): http://phobialist.com
or, in italian the pdf on: http://www.ambulatoriodipsicologia.it/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dizionario%20delle%20fobie.pdf
HOW THE SKETCHES WERE BORN
The game was fairly simple: I just pick some of the phobias which those inspired me and I added a term which made them more peculiars.
After that, drawings came out naturally, imagining situations connected to these neo-fears and I imagined the main character as a child, having to cope with weird situations.
By chance, I had a look to “Around the world in 80 days” and PHOBIAS recalled me PHILEAS, the main character of that book, so I decidet that the child was call Phobias Fogg. That’s it. No misteries.
INSTRUCTIONS: I made ca. 30 drawings about it since now and I decided to publish one each day on FB. You can share them if you like, but this is not my primary intent.
It’s like when you play alone on a game and you suddenly notice that it would be funnier to play together.
It’s my first experiment of this kind and it’s not finalize to itself: If, at the end, the sketches will be enough and it will worth, it would probably become a book. It’s my job, after all.
So I’m asking to all the more-or-less phobics, to whom studied greek or latin (I didn’t so I need your knowledge and your “corrictions”! Such kind of games works when you respect some rules to be realistics), Hypocondriacs, doctors, and anyone who feel inspired, to send me an interesting new phobia. I will try to draw the ones which will inspire (or scare) me and, in case of a book, I will certainly put the credits and give an original draw as a reward for your help for the ideas I will use.
Don’t be offended if I won’t use everything: it’s not a commisioned work and, for now, I’d like to enjoy to do it and I’d like you enjoy with thinking and seing the results).
I wish I was clear: write me about inspired and funny phobias and, if you know the classic therminology, give a name to it (follow the links I wrote above to understand how they works and how they should “sound”.
An example from the first sketch I made:
Ablutophobia: fear to wash, to take a bath or to get wet
Ablutoemophobia: fear of blood bath (see the picture)