Sanders Sides BROTP One-Shots: EXPLAINED

Chapter 24: Fight, Flight, or Freeze

SPOILER ALERT!!!

A Bit of Background:

Honestly, this one is going to take a bit of explanation pertaining to my own life, so let's get right into it. I have said before that I want to work for NASA, but what most people don't know is that I also want to be a pilot. (No, not for commercial flights; I want to be a private pilot who fly planes such as Cessnas or Pipers.) I also come from a family that is VERY aviation oriented, most of my family members are or have been pilots, worked for an airline or at an airport, or are airplane mechanics. Needless to say, aviation has been a part of my life from a very young age, and I have always enjoyed flying.

Now, I can here you all saying, 'how does this relate to the story?' Simple, one of the first things you are taught in flight-school is what will kill you as a pilot the quickest: panic. Many things can go wrong while flying, and since you are so high above the ground, if you panic, you're literally going to die. That being said, since I myself want to be a pilot, I have spent a large portion of my life tuning my fight-or-flight reflexes. Rare is the occasion where I freeze up in the face of danger; because, I have taught myself to think on the fly.

Everyone has the reaction to a dangerous situation, where your mind is racing at the speed of light, but most people have a hard time making sense of all those thoughts, which often leads someone to freezing up. A good explanation for this reaction comes from a Doctor Who quote.

"The faster you thing, the slower time will pass. Concentrate. Assume you're going to survive. Always assume that. Imagine you've already survived. There's a store room in your mind. Close the door and think."

-Twelfth Doctor (Season 9 Episode 11: Heaven Sent)

Thinking through a dangerous situation is crucial, but many times you have to do so very quickly and sometimes think and act at the same time. The exact reaction the Doctor is talking about has potentially saved mine, or someone else's lives on multiple occasions.

Inspiration:

So, finally onto the actual inspiration for Fight, Flight, or Freeze. I wondered, in a world where traits of your personality are embodied physically (specifically a trait for fight-or-flight responses) how would they would they handle a life or death situation? As we have already established, freezing up is not often a good thing, but sometimes people experience a slowing in the passage of time during dangerous situations. That being said, perhaps those traits are freezing the passage of time to prevent freezing up. In the end, my own life experiences were the inspiration for this story.

How Fight, Flight, or Freeze Fits into the Timeline:

One thing that is important to note about my stories is that they are One-Shots that eventually (somehow) got fitted into one universe...keep this in mind.

I address this partially in the story itself, but I wanted to put it in here as well. Clearly there have been many...MANY life or death / dangerous situations in my prior stories, so why didn't this power come up before now?

As Virgil states in the story itself, "Well...none of us have every really been placed in a position to where I would need to slow time to the point that you would notice until now." [...] "If you look back to the dangerous situations that we have been in, you'll find that slowing time would have either been pointless, or actually made the outcome worse."

As I explained in the story, freezing time wouldn't have helped any of the prior situations they were in...for example:

Harsh Storm - "let's go with the time the support beam fell. Yeah, I could have slowed time to give Thomas more of a chance to react rather than having me knock him across the room, but like I said then, that would have put him out of my line of sight, something that was equally as dangerous. So let's fast-forward a bit, I had knocked Thomas out of the way, yes I could have slowed time before the beam hit me, but that wouldn't have done any good, because I'm only slowing the body, not the mind. When time went back to normal I still wouldn't have had any more of a chance of getting away from that beam than I did without slowing time." [...] "Actually, if I had tried to slow time in that particular situation...it could have been lethal to me."

Personal History - "another example is when Deceit stab- injured me. Again I can only slow the body, not the mind, I had already decided what I was going to do, so yet again, slowing time and using up that energy would have lowered my chances for survival."

Now, some of you actually thought I planned this as far back as Harsh Storm; which was the first time a really dangerous situation arose in my stories...but that is as far from the truth as it can be. All of my stories have been written and treated like One-Shots, the only story / stories I ever wrote with the intention of a squeal were Waking Nightmares and Telescopes which is clearly stated in Telescopes's title. That being said, I never intentionally planned to have all of my dangerous situations before Fight, Flight, or Freeze line up so that freezing time wouldn't have helped the situations. If I'm being honest...that was just a happy accident, not some master minded plan.

Overall Thoughts On Fight, Flight, or Freeze:

Fight, Flight, or Freeze is an interesting story in my mind, as I can't really decide on a placement for it in my list of favorites to least favorites. There was a pretty long hiatus between the chapter prior (A Halloween Nightmare) and Fight, Flight, or Freeze; this is due to me focusing somewhat on my YouTube channel. That being said, this story holds a place in my heart as me returning to my roots and writing again. Overall, I enjoyed exploring the concept that this story was based on, and my love for it could be a little biased seeing as everything seemed to line up perfectly for it as I stated earlier. It's a good story and I like it, but just like Movie Nights, I feel like it was just a little middle of the road type of story.

Writing Tips Based On Fight, Flight, or Freeze:

-Using your own life as inspiration

· This is similar to another writing tip I gave 'write issues you may be going though into characters' but it's not exactly the same. Many situations happen in everyday life that make for great stories, and sometimes it can be interesting to explore said events through the eyes of another character(s). Sometimes, if you feel like you are having writer's block, think back on a story from your own life, and see how you could turn that into a story.

-A different point of view

· It can be good to look at situations, experiences, or ideals from a new perspective, and sometimes twisting them to fit a new idea or plot line. This allows you to think more deeply about what you are writing, and gives you a chance to be more creative in what you write. You can expand your horizons, and in turn help others to think about those same things from a different perspective as well.