Shannon Dugan - Intern

Hi! I'm Shannon Dugan, and there are a few things I'd like you to know about me! I grew up homeschooled which is where my love for books and writing began. While school itself was never quite my "thing", writing always has been. I can write a 12 page APA formatted paper in 4 days, but don't ask me to do any kind of math equation. Because of my love for writing, in May of 2024 I received my Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing.

Now that I have my degree, I want to do something with it. The only issue with this is that finding a writing job that isn't freelance or ghostwriting is hard. This inspired me to pursue an internship through Alpha Book Publisher--I get to experience what it's like to work in the industry of my dreams, without having to freelance or have no connection to the things that I've written.

I'm especially interested in fiction and fantasy-fiction for any age group, middle grade and up. I love books that have emotionally charged relationships and want to write a beautiful, fun love story. Because of the topics that I'm interested in, I would love to be able to contribute to others wanting to write similar things.

This brings me to my next subject: What are my long-term career goals in the publishing field? Personally, I have always loved the idea of being an editor. I used to have friends back in highschool ask me to edit their screenplays and manuscripts for them. My parents would ask me to proofread their papers, difficult text messages, etc. I love taking something that's already there and finding a way to make it better and easier for the reader to digest, all to create a more fluid storyline.

While I was still in school, one class mandated that I write and self-publish a short story on Amazon. This included writing, editing, proofreading, more editing, and then designing my own cover. The story was simple: a chocolate lab named (fish) was getting adopted for the first time and was learning how to be a house dog after growing up with his mom on the streets. While nobody ever bought the book (albeit I never told anyone that I was publishing it), it gave me a good insight as to a little bit of the process that goes into creating a story and publishing it. It's funny, it finally felt real then--like maybe,  just maybe the things that I write don't have to stay locked up in a word document on my laptop. I can do something with them.