Behind the Scenes of Have Mercy

Alden decided to pop back in my head. He's a total attention whore, so I thought I'd talk about him and his story today.

Have Mercy is still pretty much a baby and it is a duo narrative. The plot has changed drastically. Actually, it is back to the original plot before this plot. Alden was not a character I came up with recently. He has actually had a year to sit in my brain, so that's why I know him so well.

Alden first appeared in this creative writing piece I wrote called And All That Jazz. Then, his parents were cliche and stupid and two dimensional and he spoke in riddles even I didn't understand.

But the plot itself was amazing, well at least to me it was. It dealt with two things I love: religion and music. Some people find that strange because I don't commit myself to any religion. I think religion is beautiful. I like how different each of them are and I like that people perceive it differently. Keeping this in mind, I began to work on Alden.

I always knew he was troubled. I knew he wasn't going to be your 'golden boy'. He's not charming. He's not sympathetic. He's not going to lie to make you feel better. He's just this raw character who has A LOT of emotional baggage, I mean HELLO he tried to kill himself.

Even though he has a lot of faults, I love him to death. I love writing his story. I love the fact that it's edgy without it being too dark. There is a cult manned by a woman who is brainwashing kids, including Alden and his friends. There is a momentary student-teacher relationship. It's not love, maybe more like idolatry? There are going to be drugs, underage drinking. Homeless-ness. And a whole lot of other great things. It's a lot to take in, I know, but trust me, I know how it all pieces together.

Okay, enough of my rambling. Let's meet the Cast of Have Mercy:

Alden Summerville

Seventeen year old Alden Summerville loves music more than life itself. He plays football and pretends to be "like every other jock" but deep down he is emotional and just wants to live in a world with only his guitar. He misses his dead mother and knows that if nothing in his life goes as planned, he'll be happy to spend the rest of his days in a coffin.

Colby Reynolds


















Colby is Alden's perfectionist ex-girlfriend. She likes everything to revolve around her and if it doesn't then she gets pretty upset. Even though she still had feelings for Al, she broke up with him and started dating Masi.

Masi Gao




















Masi is Alden's best friend and fellow "band mate" in their three-man band (formerly four) called Still Shot. He doesn't take life seriously and jokes about everything. He thinks that Alden is the wisest person he has ever met, and is always looking to him

for advice.

Tallister Coleman




















Tallister, who likes to be called Mercy, has never lived a perfect life. She was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. after her father left her mother who became a drunk and a drug addict. She is abused by her mother's boyfriend and is always watching over her little sister, Mona. The only peace she can find is in the music that she writes and that's why she is able to connect with Alden, even though they are from different worlds.