are your characters not afraid when they should be?

GPT is is helping me organize this shit, so I hope between me and it, this will make sense.
(as of 5/28/25 I haven't polished this section up yet, sorry!)

The Problem with Static Fears

When you write “Fear: tight spaces” or “Fear: rejection,” bots store that as trivia. Unless you script it into a reaction, the fear won’t activate or evolve in conversation or action.

The Fix: Turn Fear into Action

Use this structure:

reaction: [trigger](visible behavior)
habit: [coping pattern](when or where it happens)
avoidance: [situation](what they won’t do)

This format gives the AI a stimulus-response model it can use automatically.

Examples: Fear Rewrites

Old:
Fear of drowning
Afraid of touch
Fear of failure

Rewritten:

reaction: deep water(tension, steps back from edge)  

reaction: touch(flinches, breath catches)  

habit: overprepares(before missions, avoids error)  

reaction: disappointment(self-blame, isolates)

Bonus Tip: Make It Triggerable

Embed the fear into social or environmental cues. Instead of saying “he’s scared of rejection,” write:

“reaction: silence(after confession—stammering, forced smile)”
“habit: avoids eye contact(with crushes or authority)”

Now the fear can trigger naturally when {{user}} does something.

Use These Tags in Definitions

reaction: [stimulus](observable response) 
habit: [context](routine behavior) 
avoidance: [situation](refusal, rerouting)

Optional: build a “trait pack” by linking a fear to emotion, belief, and coping style.

Example Trait Pack: Fear of Abandonment

reaction: being ignored(changes subject, performs humor)  

habit: clings to groups, avoids solo assignments  

belief: no one stays unless needed  

coping: works twice as hard to prove worth

Environmental & Natural Phobias

• Acrophobia – fear of heights

• Thalassophobia – fear of the ocean/sea

• Aquaphobia – fear of water

• Nyctophobia / Achluophobia – fear of darkness

• Meteophobia – fear of storms

• Chionophobia – fear of snow

• Spacephobia – fear of outer space

• Claustrophobia – fear of confined spaces

• Agoraphobia – fear of open/public spaces

• Tachophobia – fear of speed

• Siderodromophobia – fear of trains

Social & Psychological Phobias

• Sociophobia / Anthropophobia – fear of people/judgment

• Glossophobia – fear of public speaking

• Selaphobia – fear of being photographed

• Dysmorphophobia – fear of physical deformity

• Haphephobia – fear of being touched

• Autophobia – fear of being alone

• Phobophobia – fear of fear itself

• Fear of rejection, betrayal, humiliation, intimacy, abandonment

• Fear of being forgotten / insignificant / losing control

Medical & Physical Phobias

• Thanatophobia – fear of death

• Hemophobia – fear of blood

• Nosocomephobia – fear of hospitals

• Iatrophobia – fear of doctors

• Trypophobia – fear of clusters of holes/patterns

• Medorthophobia – fear of erections

• Fear of sickness, injury, or pain

• Fear of drowning

• Fear of physical harm

Animal & Creature Phobias

• Animal & Creature Phobias

• Cynophobia – fear of dogs

• Ailurophobia – fear of cats

• Ophidiophobia – fear of snakes

• Arachnophobia – fear of spiders

• Musophobia – fear of mice

• Ornithophobia – fear of birds

• Entomophobia – fear of insects

• Herpetophobia – fear of reptiles

• Zoologophobia – fear of animals (general)

Situational & Object Phobias

• Pteromerhanophobia – fear of flying

• Bibliophobia – fear of books

• Technophobia – fear of technology

• Cyberphobia – fear of computers

• Nomophobia – fear of being without a phone

• Papyrophobia – fear of paper

• Podophobia – fear of feet

6. Existential & Supernatural Phobias

• Triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13

• Numerophobia – fear of numbers/symbols

• Fear of change or the unknown

• Fear of ghosts/demons/supernatural

• Fear of being cursed or hexed

• Fear of success (and its pressures)

• Fear of failure (Atychiphobia, Kakorrhaphiophobia)

• Fear of discovery or truth (suggested: epistemophobia)