Goodreads asked M.F.C. Assoum:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

M.F.C. Assoum Everything i ever do is to help people in need, people who can't or won't ask for help and my latest book aims to do just that. Having volunteered/worked with victims of abuse for several years now, it struck me that it is very rare to find a main character in a novel which comes from a broken background and goes on to great things. It has become quite repetitive, the main character is someone who goes through a somewhat moderate rough patch and comes out on top, whilst the villain is always a person who has had a torturous background which turned them inherently evil. Having spoken to dozens of victims of abuse (whether sexual, physical, drug etc..) the idea came to me, why not make the heroes people who have over come tremendous odds and unimaginable pain to become true heroes. So that's what i did with this book. The stories of abuse, pain and suffering all come from stories of lived experiences from people i have worked with and for the most part are true (creative leeway taken of course). Listening to their stories was a sobering experience and writing them was a tough endeavor but it was one that i felt would benefit anyone who is too afraid to ask for help, or who can't ask for help because they are yet to escape their demons. I just hope that Strike of Lightning reaches the intended audience, and i will be happy and content even if it changes but one life.

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