Heart of Darkness

No, I don’t like work. I had rather laze about and think of all the fine things that can be done. I don’t like work—no man does, but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself. Your own reality—for yourself, not for others—what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.                            - Joseph Conrad, from Heart of Darkness

Have you ever dropped into your own "terror-itory" in writing - your own heart of darkness?  What lurks there that shines a light side also?

Consider your dark side as a way to investigate an area of concern as an actor would. Develop dimensions rather than focus on the darkness as a negative.

How can the dark expose your light in humor, insight or possibilities?

Write how you might play a variety of dark roles.

Move into and around them and collect fragments of other personalities to enrich the persona.  

What do you know about yourself that no one else would ever discover?  Create a character based on these insights.

Write a character sketch from the "he" or "she" perspective.

What have you discovered by writing into the "terror-itory"?