Cover from Amazon
The wonderful thing about editing is getting to know authors on levels not normally found in a professional relationship. Perfecting a story in someone’s voice means knowing that voice, the values in the voice; not necessarily where the values came from, but what the author treasures and wants to share with the world. An editor helps an author hone that and all other aspects of the voice.
Patrick Dugan, whom I edited Storm Forged and the forthcoming Unbreakable Storm for, has been a joy to get to know during the editing process. His voice is uplifting. The process to get that voice on paper, not always as spiritual. Sometimes we banged heads, and sometimes the banging of the heads had stuff fall out which amazed us both. But most times we were just passing secret notes back and forth, him asking “what do you think?” and me going “write it out, now!”
He has a story to tell, several in fact, both entertaining and enlightening. The superhero series is not only about being a superhero and all the wonder using powers entails, but a coming-of-age story for the main character and a social commentary on institutionalized racism. And family, central to the series is a sense of family.
Family is also central to Mr. Dugan. I got to attend the book release party at his house for Storm Forged where his family and friends gathered to congratulate him on moving from a writer to a published author. The party was for them, those that took the journey with him over the years to get to the point he had words within a book. A thank you. I was along for the last few steps of his trip and was honored he asked me to join the celebration.
Mr. Dugan is good about that. Thank yous. He realizes the journey, whichever one you take – programming (his day job), raising children, or writing a book – is not a solitary one.
Look up the Dark Storm series. It’s about heroes, and family; about never going it alone, and growing up; about the horrors the world can create, and how they should be fought.
Patrick Dugan can be found at his Secret Lair website here: http://www.patrickdugan.net/
Dark Storm can be bought through Square direct from the publisher in paperback format (giving the author maximum profits): Paperback
And here is the link is to Amazon for the eBook and Audio book.