What Are We Going to Do Tyrone Jr.? follows the parents of an adult autistic son who faces challenges from the neighbors with his behavior. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Life was really my inspiration. My wife’s and mine personal journey along with the experiences of other parents of autistic children served as the primary inspiration for this story. Because I’m a part of this community, I’ve become aware of the challenges and triumphs that other parents of autistic children have experienced. There are a lot of challenges, but, fortunately, there can also be a lot of wins.

This novel was a perfect way for me to share an interesting story and to educate readers on the difficulties that families may experience while raising a loved one who has special needs. Most importantly, I was inspired by the need to highlight the uncertainty that families often experience when their special loved one becomes an adult.

What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?

My primary guideline was to ensure that my characters were interesting, relatable, and believable. I really want the reader to emotionally connect with my authentic characters and have a good understanding of why the characters in my story act a certain way. In order to make this possible, I deliberately shared the main characters’ personal dreams and goals. It’s important that readers understand the parents’ goals in the story, and how having a special-needs child may possibly impact them. By sharing these insights, I feel as if I developed believable, relatable, and likable characters.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

In addition to addressing the central theme of raising a special-needs adult child, family and friendship are critical themes in the story. Family and friendship create powerful emotions that many people can relate to based on experiences in their lives – good or bad. In my first novel, The Other Side of Friendship, I primarily focused on the challenges of making and keeping new friends as an adult. What Are We Going to Do with Tyrone Jr.? also captures the themes of friendship throughout the story. One of my goals was to show how the main character, Tyrone, matured in the area of friendship. As for the family theme, this story is a reminder that even the most close-knit families can experience internal personal conflicts. The goal should be to stick together as a family and work through obstacles.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

For my next novel, I’m still brainstorming ideas. I’m actually torn between writing a more light-hearted and adventurous story or a reflective novel about a character who is struggling to obtain personal goals. Both stories may include some of the characters from my current book and will contain chapters that are inspired by my military career. After spending 30 years in the Army, it’s hard for me to not include military references in a story. Brainstorming the different ideas for my next book is exciting. Regardless of the type of story I write, there will surely be a central theme to inspire or educate the reader. The expected release date is late 2025. I look forward to sharing more about my next story with you.

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