Tennitus

I've fallen prey to the disease that writers fear more than Writer's Block... Terminal Tennitus.

For those of you who are lucky enough to have never contracted this particular disease, I will give you the basic prognosis: Terminal Tennitus is a disease which strikes when a writer hits the last ten pages of his/her script and is unable to bring the bastard across the finish line. I know this is a real disease, because I've spoken with other writers who have contracted it. Apparently, it's a lot like Herpes. Once you've had it, you have it for life and the outbreaks can either get worse with time, or can abate completely.

Symptoms include: cramping of the fingers, the intestine and/or the genitals. Profuse sweating from the brow. Bloodshot eyes. Too much or too little mucous. Diarrhea. Vomiting. Sleeplessness. Milky, yellow discharge from the anus and/or the ears. Clenched/puckered sphincter. Painful, itching pustules in the armpit region. Fever. Euphoria. Dementia. Claustrophobia.

I have all of the above. And man, have I got it bad. I'm like the Brundlefly at this point. It's nasty.

The throbbing of my twin Generac 7000 generators is like the Devil (my former agent) tap-dancing on my skull. I'm starting to think that what I'll do is cut and paste the first ten pages of the script at the end (because bookending scripts seems to be the thing to do now), or maybe structure the whole damn thing backwards like Memento or Irreversible.

Your truly from the bowels of despair,

JRH

Doubt Is My Bedfellow

I woke up in a cold sweat today. I just don't know if I'm on the right path. Everything I thought was rich and vibrant last night seems sickly in the harsh morning light. But I put on my robe, grabbed a Coke and sat down in front of the monitor's glow.

The demons of doubt were summoned by my title. Like moths to a flame they gathered during the night. A lot of screenwriting books say you shouldn't even start writing until you have a title, but this story was demanding to get out so I just started writing. I don't want to go into specifics, but my script deals with big themes: religion, mythology, the rich dark crevices of human experience that go unplumbed by most mortal men.

Right now I'm calling it "The Shroud."

I'm worried the title is too abstract.

Originally I wanted to call it "Lifting the Caul," because the theme is about exposing things kept hidden, but in our woefully undereducated society not many people know what that is. To be born "in the caul" means to be born with the amniotic sac still intact around the body, like so:



We rare ones born in the caul are known as "caulbearers." The ancient Romans believed that babies born with a caul possessed a second sight. Roman midwives sold cauls in the Forum for protection from witchcraft.

This is why I am a writer. As a caulbearer, my second sight gives me vision into my fictive worlds.

If only the caul would protect me from the demons of doubt.

Does symbolism make for a good title? Or should I spoonfeed the reader with something very literal?

Back to my script and my battle. More later.