What you might learn from 'Friends and Neighbors': An inside word

Ever since I wrote the musical "It's Your Time," and the drafts to "The Teenage Love Diaries," I would often find the moments within the story, come to life. Usually, they would come to life AFTER they were written. It's strange how every time I write a story, or something, it eventually comes to life right before my very eyes. Now, I'm not saying that I am Nostradamus, or a prophet, but sometimes it is strange to even look at. This past weekend, I went to Country Stampede. I had a fun time, and If you don’t know what Country Stampede is, it’s a four day, outdoor country music and camping festival, where people from all over the state come to watch famous country stars sing. In Friends and Neighbors, this festival is mentioned several times throughout the story.

 I always mention that characters within a story will always become a part of the author. Sometimes, it’s a matter of stepping in that character’s shoes to find the inspiration of emotion.  Last night, I felt a slight glimpse of emotion from the main character, Riley Johnson. In the book, there’s a chapter titled “An Unexpected Surprise.”  This chapter contains a lot of conflict, emotion, and twisted scenarios. In this chapter, there is a scene where Riley and Rachel meet each other for the first time since leaving College for the summer, but Riley encounters the feeling of him being unwanted at a party because Rachel’s friends "Prejudge" him based on the color of his skin. Last night, I actually walked into Riley's shoes, and felt the exact same emotion when I encountered a group of strangers with a friend. It was interesting to feel what the moment was like.  Now what’s the message behind the story? Well, I'm not giving out spoilers of the story, but it left me with this thought that I had Tweeted and even dusted to all of my Cyber Dusters. I said, "It may involve your life being on the line and at risk, but always do the right thing for others." When you save someone else's life, you're risking your own life. No matter what the situation is, where, who, big or small, your life is somewhat on the line. Think of a Soldier going out to battle. When a soldier runs out to rescue someone, the enemy is always firing back at the soldier.

An unexpected surprise, was actually the first chapter I had wrote for this book, and this chapter allowed me to expand around it. It introduces one of my favorite characters in this book, and that is Rachel. Like I said, I’ll throw in hints, but I’m not giving out spoilers. The only person who has read both the draft and revision of this chapter, was my professor. To be honest, this chapter is still being updated and revised as we speak. So what will you find in this chapter? Regret, Fate, and Racism…Okay, don’t believe it. Just think about it and you answer it all for yourself. Sorry, I’m not going to truly give away the juicy secrets.  Just know that it’s all an “Unexpected Surprise.”

Stay tuned for more updates of Friends and Neighbors

Ronald Atkinson

Friends and Neighbors: Update

You know that frightful moment when you’re typing up stuff in a word document, and eventually, something happens to your computer and you lose everything? What do we do? We freak out. But the good part is, we’re given a second chance to recreate those documents. We may forget a lot with what was being written, but we can always make it better, tweak something, and also make things fresh again. Put it this way, it’s like you’re doing something when you think it is good, but God has the power to change it and say “Do something better.” What we forget is, we’re always given second chances. We may fall seven times, but we can always get back up to try and try again. He knows what He wants from you, so he is always making sure that the best is yet to come.

As I was trying to relocate the updated version of Friends and Neighbors, it was nowhere to be found. A little spoiler alert, one of the most sentimental chapters was erased, and that was the only thing missing from the updated version. I don’t know what that really means, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Although I am taking summer classes, I’ve given very little time on writing this, and started to focus on what’s really important, and that is school. When July hits, I will be back in the full swing of things, and will resume to finish the draft. New characters have been added. Some minor, and some major, but most importantly, I have threw in the Bramlage family, if you didn’t catch the excerpt posted on my Facebook. I’ll give you more updates as time goes on, but in the mean time, I will not throw in spoilers, but I will throw in quotes, excerpts, and questions that will leave you wondering.

The Movie, The Musical.

The script to the musical, has been hidden inside of a dusty box. The original diary manuscripts, has been fading away for over a period of time, and is also with the musical script. The musical, and the diary entries,  serves as the foundation story to "Friends and Neighbors." Though, that story is controversial, I haven't decided whether or not I should blow off the cobwebs, tweak it, and revise it. Who knows... it may stay hidden forever.

The movie, did I talk about that? Give the movie some time. I can’t say that a movie of Friends and Neighbors, will, or will not happen. I can’t say that a pre-production process has started. I’ve gotten many questions, but all I can say is this… I have no control of what’s going to happen, when, and how, but I do know who is already casted for some of the characters…

And that goes for all three books.

Some of us are getting older to recreate our old selves, but thank God for Hollywood make-up.