"We're Gonna Make a New Rule"

by Kellyann Zuzulo

...if you know the source of that quote, you're aware of the depths of writing possession. The most terrifying thing about any writer can be their devotion to their vocation. If it's as intense as this quote suggests, watch out! When a writer is writing, DO NOT ... and I repeat ... DO NOT interrupt her. If you do, then the suggestion of Halloween spirits and unsettled souls will mean nothing to you. You will be confronting THE FRUSTRATED WRITER.

To me, the scariest scene I've ever seen was the one referenced here from The Shining, the movie starring Jack Nicholson, directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel by Stephen King.

In the film, Jack Torrance is the main character who is a writer-cum-caretaker. He secures a job at the Overlook Hotel. While he went into the position as a hopeful writer, the isolation, inspiration, and possession of the place turned him into one scary dude. The rule to which he refers is that:

"Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. Whenever I'm in here and you hear me typing, or whether you don't hear me typing...or whatever the $#%@ you hear me doing in here, when I am in here, that means that I am working. That means don't come in. Do you think you can handle that?"

I've run through this scene instantaneously in my head a few times when I've been deep into writing a scene and someone pops into my office with a trivial request. On the flip side, it has also prevented me from EVER walking into a room where I hear the familiar klik-klak of keys. The potential consequences...thanks to Stephen King...haunt me.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

~Best Wishes,

Kellyann Zuzulo

http://kfzuzulo.com