Love Thy Neighbor By Morgan Mandel

Love Thy Neighbor

As I walked to the train station this morning, I said hello to a neighbor down the street. That simple action got me thinking. How many variations are there on a neighbor theme in a book?

Here are some:

· A mean neighbor who loves to scare kids.
· An elderly neighbor who bakes cookies for children in the neighborhood.
· A murdering neighbor who looks normal on the outside.
· An unfaithful husband or wife fooling around with the neighbor.
· A persnickety neighbor that keeps his or her property perfect & expects that of others.
· A neighbor whose home and property should be condemned.
· A rich, snobby neighbor.
· A rich, sharing neighbor.
· A poor neighbor struggling to make ends meet despite horrible odds
· A neighbor who has lost a spouse or child.
· A stealing neighbor.
· A neighbor who doesn’t control his or her children.
· A neighbor who makes lots of noise: radio, muffler, you name it.
· A neighbor who has strange looking friends.
· A neighbor who throws block parties and mingles with everyone.
· A shy neighbor.
· A helpless neighbor people feel sorry for.

From my list, you can see there are plenty of ways to fit a neighbor into a story. Think about using one of them some time.

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com/