Two military dads who met at church in North Suffolk have partnered to write a book about a courageous cutter who saves the day for a schooner in distress.

Rodger Thompson and Scott McBride are the co-authors of “The Adventures of Connor the Courageous Cutter: Saving Sarah.”

Connor is the story of a cutter who is new to Serendipity Sound, where he meets friends such as Faith the Fire Boat and Sarah the Schooner. But when Sarah gets trapped in a storm, Connor is the one who can light the way for Sarah’s return to safety. Although Sarah suffered damage from the storm, the Harbor Master and the other boats team up to make her even better than before.

It was an idea that has been floating around in McBride’s head since he was in graduate school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He was talking to a professor about his thesis in crisis communications when the professor suddenly asked, “Have you ever thought about writing a children’s book?”

“That really struck a nerve with me,” McBride said. Even so, he sat on the idea for years.

Enter Rodger Thompson, whom McBride observed working with children at their church, Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Eclipse. McBride thought Thompson might be the right guy to help him with his idea, so he approached him after church on March 10.

“I originally wanted to be a screenwriter,” Thompson said. “I never really saw myself as much of a children’s writer.”

But he liked the idea, so the two men agreed to meet after church the next week to map out the story.

On a napkin and notecards, the entire book was outlined by the time the two men left Panera Bread that Sunday. The first draft was written within a week.

“There was so much passion behind it,” Thompson said.

The next step was publishing the book. The pair had already received a rejection letter or two before McBride was in California for military exercises and heard someone behind him say he was a children’s book author. That person put McBride in touch with his publisher.

The two ran a Kickstarter campaign to come up with the initial investment. They raised $10,000 in less than a month, and every donor got a free copy of the book.

Perhaps the easiest part of the entire process was naming the courageous cutter who saves the day. McBride has two boys and Thompson has three, and each has a son named Connor.

Thompson and McBride will have a book signing Dec. 5 at MacArthur Center, 300 Monticello Ave., Norfolk, starting at 1 p.m. They’re also busily putting the finishing touches on book No. 2.

The book is available from a number of online sources and through the publisher, mascotbooks.com.