My 2025 Writing Goals Part Two: The Animated Series

Hello, and welcome to part two of my three-part series on my writing goals and projects for 2025! I'm hoping these articles are interesting and exciting, but more than that, I hope that they inspire others to finish that book, write that script, or record that podcast.

There's a lot of art in the world, but there will never be enough. It’s time to put yours out there, because someone is waiting for it, and it's going to change their life. Now, without further delay, let's talk about my second major project for 2025: an animated series called The Chronicles of Clenchport.

The Story of Two Friends Who Had a Dream

I've been friends with a talented animator named James Nethery for over two decades now. He's my oldest and most loyal friend.

We met when we were barely teenagers, both volunteering for community service hours at the Orlando Science Center. We got along immediately, but our true friendship formed when I told him I was a writer.

"Really? That's amazing, I do animation!" he replied.

A match made in heaven.

It didn't take long before we started working on projects together. We had a clay animation series about a character named Lucky Bob, and before you knew it, Lucky Bob was cast in his first "feature" film.

We made the jump to 2D animation and produced a thirty-minute film that I wrote called "Lucky Bob's Time Machine." This cornerstone of cinematic history told the story of Dr. Al, who built a time machine, only to have it stolen by Barney's evil twin.

This villain, aptly named "Evil Barney" is perhaps one of my most nuanced and sympathetic characters.

I'm kidding!

He was about a flat as the 2D animation used to bring him to life, but that's not the point!

The point is that we had a ton of fun and we knew we wanted to do a full series. We continued producing cartoons over the years, many of which are long lost to time.

The animation got better though, and so did the writing. We honed our crafts, polished our scripts, and even became pretty decent voice actors as time went on.

In 2025, we're finally doing the thing our teenage selves dreamed of: we're making an animated series.

It’s going to be a combination of cosmic horror and comedy, and it won't just exist as an animated series either. We're taking this idea to stories, to a podcast, and anywhere else it wants to go.

Allow me to introduce my first ever transmedia universe.

Turns out, making a Transmedia Universe is Hard

A transmedia universe is one that exists across different types of media. This can be books, TV, comics, podcasts, and other forms of creative expression.

The idea is that each of these pieces fit into a larger whole, but also stand on their own. This means that, if all you do is listen to the podcast, you're still getting a complete story.

It also means that if you listen to the podcast, and then watch the series, you're able to piece together a larger narrative about the world or worlds it's set in.

Pretty cool, right?

Well, it's harder than it sounds. You see, this fictional universe centers around the town of Clenchport, Virginia, where strange things have always been part of everyday life. In the animated series, we follow citizens of the town and showcase their strange and often wild back stories, as well as all the trouble they get into.

In the podcast, two lifelong residents of Clenchport recount stories from the town's past, while also featuring strange audio recordings that seemingly came from other versions of Clenchport in parallel universes.

Yeah, it's wild.

Aside from all of that, a few of my Vocal stories are set in and around the town of Clenchport, so you can see how these pieces start to fit together, but enough about shared universes. Let's talk about the series, and why 2025 is the year to become a fan.

Putting Clenchport on the Map in 2025

We've been working on Clenchport for several years, but 2025 is when you'll see the project really come to life.

My friend James and I have begun assembling a team of incredible artists, animators, character designers, and voice actors. We have a Discord channel set up for team members, and the energy is infectious.

As the head writer on the series, I can't quite describe how happy it makes me to see people excited about this crazy idea that I came up with.

James and I talk nearly every week on Facetime (we live in different states). We're usually out in the backyard, smoking a cigar, and talking about all our new ideas for the series. It's a good time.

So, where are we now?

Well, I've written a number of scripts for shorts featuring a few of the town's characters, as well as a mini-series where they find themselves being interrogated by a mysterious figure who calls himself Agent Durwood.

These shorts will showcase our art, animation, and voice work. They will also give people a chance to get acquainted with the people of the town and its deeper mysteries.

Once these shorts are done, we also have a script for the pilot episode. It's been through numerous drafts and edits, but I'm confident it's going to be the best possible way to launch the series.

We've also outlined all the episodes in the first season of the show. I collected all of this information into our pitch bible, which is complete and ready for design (I made some placeholder art in Canva and quickly remembered that I'm not an artist).

Several members of the team are working on character designs and rigging them for animation as well. We also have background artists designing new sets and a web developer who is eagerly waiting for me to deliver the writing for our town of Clenchport website.

Not only that, but we're also on social media! You can find us on Facebook, X, Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram.

Our social media channels are run by a fictional intern at the Clenchport Chamber of Commerce named Francis. It's a fun persona that allows us to post in-universe updates about the town and further deepen the lore.

Aside from all this work on the main series, I've also published a few short stories on Vocal set in this connected universe. I'll include those links below:

• Loose Ends
• Lavena's Sacrifice

And last, but not least, I've also been writing episodes of a podcast called The Many Worlds of Clenchport, which explore stories from the town's history and mysterious audio from alternate versions of Clenchport in parallel universes.

Still With Me?

If that sounds like a lot, that's because it is, especially when we all have day jobs on top of this crazy project.

It's worth it though. I love seeing the passion of everyone on the team, it keeps me going. Life can be incredibly difficult, and it's in those times that I just want to give up and stop pursuing this dream.

But then I think about all the people who have read the materials surrounding this fictional town and instantly became fans of the project. So much so, that they chose to work on it alongside us.

So, I keep going. For myself, for them, and for the fans that will one day connect with this wild and wacky world we're creating.

I look forward to seeing you all there.