I was listening to the song pressure by billy joel and the instrumental as well as these lines in particular:
“You’ve only had to run so far
So good
But you will come to a place
Where the only thing you feel
Are loaded guns in your face
And you’ll have to deal with
Pressure”
invoke a “walls closing in” kind of anxiety. a main character who is particularly ill-prepared for whatever situation they are in and so far out of their depths, at any moment could be exposed or caught or killed, and for so much of the book you’re sucked into that feeling. could be an average joe thrust into a situation out of their pay-grade or someone who has had a cushy life suddenly faced with hardship for seemingly the first time. i want the high stakes and anxiety to bleed off the page
by adonistoo