Delete Nothing. Save Everything.

Writing for such a long time has created some interesting side effects. Such as a back log of unfinished stories on my computer. Titles like Adam Parker and the Holiday Stabbing where on the first page, I killed off Adam. Heck if I know where I was going with that one.

Check out the list of unfinished scripts -->

A couple of things jump out. I don't know where I Was Teenage Mayor came from. Papa was a Backstreet Boy is about a punk rock kid who discovers his father used to be a member of a boy band. The Sullivan Mystery Script is about a family of amateur sleuths. As for the Untitled ones, who knows.

Then there's Jack Carver, my first IP before I knew what IP meant. I wanted to build this whole universe about a kid who investigated supernatural events. It was The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and any other influence you can think of wrapped up into one character. The Jack Carver script in this file folder ultimately became Jack Carver: Zombie Romp. And from there I wrote the first episode in my supposed Jack Carver series called Jack Carver: Janey. That was about a giant crocodile in the sewers of East Shore (my fake town at the time)

For the five scripts that are featured on this website, there are unseen dozens of finished and unfinished scripts on my computer. Writing isn't always about the finished product. It's also about the unfinished projects that never see the light of the day. It's a process. It sucks to say goodbye to some of these stories. No one starts a story with visions of failure in their head. They start it... I start with visions of success and accolades. But sometimes, stories just don't pan out. And you're left with the unfinished aftermath on your computer.

But I can't delete them. I can't get rid of them because you never know when you might need them again. They call to you. Late at night. Whispers in the back of your head. Some louder, more persistent than others. The Sullivan Family is one that calls out at times. My Jake Stronghold script as well. (Fading action star goes back home) But the loudest was always Carver. Of course, I have to change his name since Jack is a character in the Far Cry video game.

And after re-reading the Carver script, I think I know where and how he's going to fit in. Carver and his friends will finally have a story that could be seen by others. I just so happen to have a slot available to my new compilation series "Welcome to Brookville" and the Carver brand will do just fine.

None of that would've been possible without these side effects of writing. Without my unwillingness to erase old stories. Without my ability to go back and see where I've come from in my story development as writer. Writers! Delete nothing. Save everything. You never know.

And I haven't even talked about my unfinished treatments.