How did you go bad?

I've developed a bit of a terrible habit when it comes to working on scripts. I'll come up with an idea, get really excited about it, and come up with the basic story almost immediately. Then I'll sit on it for a while, letting it languish. Shortly thereafter, I'll come up with something else that gets me more excited and completely neglect the previous idea. I have a hard drive full have half finished outlines and scripts, and lord knows if I'll ever get back to them. 

Fortunately, my previous idea kind of dovetails with the new one. Much of last year, I was doing research into cults and cult leaders for an idea I had for an artsy exploitation film. I kind of figured out that I would need more resources than I could probably get to make it as a first feature, so I moved onto something else. But the research I put into it has proved to be invaluable for "Chupacabra."

For a time, I read every book and watched ever TV program I could on cult leaders. Of the sources I found, Len Oakes' Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities proved to be the biggest influence. Len lived with a cult for 11 years, during which he dedicated himself to the research of the charismatic leader. The common denominator he found amongst all cult leaders was their intense narcissism. They all possessed an unerring sense that they held a special and unique place in the world. In extreme cases, charismatic leaders would develop delusions regarding their powers, developing messianic complexes. 

This was all great stuff...if I had decided to write a movie about a cult. But I did have all this stuff floating in my mind when I was coming up with the idea of "Chupacabra." Probably the question on the forefront on my brain was, "How do these cult leaders develop such a strong sense of narcissism? How do they become delusional?" Oakes does spend a chapter in his book trying to explain this phenomenon. But it's nearly impossible to explain the intricacies of human behavior in one cover all theory. There has to be more to it than just having an overbearing mother and distant father. There's got to me much, much more to it. I hope I can figure it out. 

With that said, on we go...