Chocowinity resident Steve Atkins Sr. can churn out 3,000 words a day if he is in what he calls a “writing mode.”
“It’s almost like watching a move and trying to write it down as you’re watching it,” he said.
As he wrote “Dreampoint,” the movie had a twist and sent his story down a much different path than even he expected.
“Dreampoint” is about a North Carolina doctor who travels to the jungles of Peru to find a cure for an ailment he and his father have. Their fingers are bent like a bunch of little hooks and could not be straightened out. The condition is called Dupuytren’s contracture.
“This is a real condition and I actually had that condition,” Atkins said.
Atkins found a treatment and said he no longer suffer drom the syndrome.
“There was only one doctor in Greenville – and this was a year and a half ago – that was authorized to use it,” he said.
He recovered within a week of the treatment. The alternative would have been a surgery with a six-month recovery, according to Atkins.
In his novel, the doctor does not find the cure in Greenville. He learns of indigenous people in Puerto Maldonado, Peru who have a cure.
Atkins has never been to Peru, but said he learned so much about the country from research.
“I did so much research on the roads and the rivers. There’s so much information available on the Internet, especially YouTube, to where I almost feel like I’ve been there,” he said.
The Internet is also the only source for “Dreampoint.” The Grisham-like suspense novel is available electronically on Amazon.com.
Atkins has several movies still playing in his head. He said his next novel, “Pamlico Moonrise,” is a lot like a Nicholas Sparks tale with romance and suspense.
After that, he will start a series called “Pastor Dan” that will share the adventures of a minister as he moves from one church to the next.
Atkins had advice for those who also have stories to tell.
“Don’t ever give up. Just because you’ve hit a wall doesn’t mean it’s the end. Just reinvent yourself,” he said. “I think it was General McArthur that said, ‘We’re not retreating. We’re just moving in a different direction.’”