Alli Prince's Blog, page 4

Copper Lies is available today!

It’s launch day! And this story has been a long time coming…

My life has been a series of God asking me to do hard things—uncomfortable things—and me crying, debating, arguing, and eventually saying yes. So imagine my surprise when he asked me to do something I actually enjoyed.

“I want you to write,” he whispered. I stopped short.

At first, I thought it must be my own selfish ambitions trying to get in the way. God couldn’t possibly want me to do that…could he? But then I tentatively whispered, “I’ll do it.”

And then I was on a plane flying across the country to go to a writing trade school to pursue the one thing I’d told myself never to let anybody else know about.

Writing is close to my heart. It’s personal. It’s vulnerable. It’s scary.

In my first year at The Company, I wrote a novella. I thought it was garbage. I’d been on such a tight deadline to finish it, I didn’t have time to do my usual editing on it— to remove myself from it and edit out anything that could let someone know how I really felt…but then my mentor read it and (gasp) he actually liked it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was workable.

And now, nearly two years later, I’m releasing it for the world to read. (Past me would be mortified. Present me is only a little bit mortified 😉)

Copper Lies

One secret can lead to many lies…

If you make something, and then that something accidentally comes alive and destroys your entire town…would it be fair to say that you destroyed the town, or can we just blame it on the thing?

Lillian Booker is dying to experiment on the strange glowing rocks hidden inside her adoptive father’s workshop—but the professor forbid it before he left on his journey. As Lillian learns all she can about the stones without breaking the professor’s rule, she finds herself stuck between two worlds.

Will she live the life of a brilliant inventor or give up on her dreams and become a respectable lady instead? What will make her happy? Most importantly, which will prove to the professor that he didn’t make a mistake when he chose her?

When Lillian secretly builds a mechanical dragon, one mistake leads to another—the strange glowing stones collide with her creation and her dragon roars to life! Lillian must make a choice…lie and keep her dragon a secret or finally face the truth?

Will any of it matter anyway if the town’s already been destroyed?

Order Copper Lies Today!

I hope you enjoy this story, but more than that, I hope you connect with it. I hope that you can read these words, see this journey, and realize you are not alone.

Take that leap God’s put on your heart. Hold your breath and squeeze your eyes shut if you have to.

Because you’re not alone and God loves you so very much.

(Order the book through this link!)

Don’t miss out on another story from me! This is the first of many 😉 Join my newsletter!

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    You shouldn't have to fight off your inner critic alone. If you join my newsletter, I'll send you weekly blogs with tips to overcome your inner critic, tricks on writing faster and more effeciently, and encouragement to keep moving forward! 

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The post Copper Lies is available today! appeared first on Alli Prince.

When Your Inner Critic Says Don’t—Do! Guest post by C.K. Slorra

I don’t know about you, but my inner critic loves to downplay accomplishments and up-play undertakings until the simplest task looks impossible.

Last month, I passed a yellow belt test—big whoop. I’ve been training for about a decade. What’s the big deal?

The big deal is that three months earlier, my IT band was shot. I couldn’t move my knee without it sounding like a rice crispy treat. Somehow, I had to go from crippled to passing a physical with 500 front kicks, a 2-mile bike ride, and other rigors. It seemed impossible.

You might ask why it even mattered. Why do I need a belt when I have the experience to prove myself? It mattered for the same reason doing hard things matters for you.

If I never push myself, I’ll never achieve my goals.

What hard thing is standing in your path? Maybe it’s publishing a book or short story. Maybe it’s starting a blog. Or maybe it’s telling your family you’re an author.

Whatever it is, what do you do when it stares you dead in the eyes?

Do you freeze? “I don’t know what I’m doing”

 procrastinate? “I’ll work on something else right now”

 quit? “I’d never make it anyway”

 rationalize? “My disabilities are more debilitating than other people’s”

 despair? “Why is everyone else so good at everything?”

Window of Tolerance

            The window of tolerance is “the optimal zone for (transformative) learning: it is still possible to experience unpleasant emotions and connected arousals of the SNS but these emotions can be regulated, leading to recovery,” (Singer-Brodowski, 2022). If you get too caught up on the details and what-ifs, you fly out of the window of tolerance and into anxiety-land. If you get too down on yourself about rejection, failure, etc. you sink into the bottomless pit of depression.

            Maybe you don’t know what you’re doing, but if you never try, you’ll never learn. If you never do hard things, your window of tolerance will shrink and shrink and shrink until a bad review or nasty comment will ruin your week.

            Similarly, if you never challenge yourself, your ability to make the hard choices will dwindle and die (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000).

Free Ways to Increase Your Window of Tolerance

            You don’t want to live in a strangling box of tolerance, but goals are scary! If you go flying into the anxiety ether or plummeting into the depression abyss, you’ll give up on goals altogether. Here are three ways to expand your window of tolerance.

1. Start small

            If you want to get your sixty-thousand-word manuscript complete, start with a small goal. “Today, I’m going to outline my novel.” We talked about setting SMART goals a few months ago, so I won’t belabor the point here, but you need to set an attainable goal that spurs you toward freedom and accomplishment.

2. Don’t quit.

Noodles… don’t noodles.

Before you quit, take some time to breathe and scan your body. I’ve seen stress held inside the body anywhere from curled toes to throbbing headaches and everywhere in between. Take five or ten minutes to do deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation.

Deep breathing should come in through the nose and out through the mouth either in a 6-4 second ratio or 4-4-4-4 (in, hold, out, hold, repeat).

[image error]Meanwhile, progressive muscle relaxation tenses one spot at a time, moving from your toes up to your calves, thighs, etc. etc.

Fun Fact:
Saliva indicates your digestive system is online. The sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight system) turns the digestive system off. Thus, if you’re producing saliva, you are inside your window of tolerance.

Once you can do a body scan and notice the tension has gone down, look at the problem again and see if it seems any different now. Maybe your disabilities or setbacks are bigger than you know how to handle, but by pressing on, you’ve already tamed the beast, even if just for a moment.

3. Finally, Worry Less.

“Gee, thanks. I hadn’t thought of that.”

Ok, ok. I earned that. In all seriousness, we’ve been made with an incredible mind that is capable of far more than we give it credit for. I knew a girl who had a chuck of her brain removed because of cancer and most of it REGREW. How amazing is that?!

So, if our brain can regrow portions, we can carve some more healthy thinking pathways.

We can IMPROVE.

Imagine a place away from your worries. Find meaning that gives insight into your life or how to help someone else. Pray in acceptance of what you cannot control and request discernment for pressing forward. Pick a quiet place to practice something that relaxes you (i.e. breathing or the leaves technique we covered in the last article). Focus on one thing—something that is simple but takes your full attention like memorizing scripture, organizing a space, or saying the ABCs backward. Stand up and take a miniature vacation—nothing grand, just switch up the environment and try something fresh or fun. Finally, encourage yourself. If you need encouragement, be that cheerleader! “I’m resourceful,” “I’ve been through harder,” “I am enough as I am.”

When you want to envy how everyone else will be more successful than you, try one or more of the IMPROVE tasks.

Time to Practice

If you want to conquer your inner critic and write a story worth sharing, you need to expand your window of tolerance by doing hard things.

It may seem daunting, but you can do it. You don’t have to kill yourself to expand your comfort zone. Whether you’re making a SMART goal, monitoring and regulating your body, taking control of your thoughts with a prayer stone, or doing some mixture of each, you have resources to hold your hand.

You can do this. Do hard things!

C.K. Slorra is an author from South Carolina with a passion for clinical psychology, philosophy, and fantasy. She enjoys spending time in the great outdoors with her husband, Sam, and her three rambunctious dogs.

As an author, C.K. Slorra seeks to reshape the industry standard for YA Action Fantasy by providing something deeper than erotica and cliches: truth, depth, and experiential fight scenes.

Follow C.K. Slorra at her website or instagram!

Don’t miss out on another post! Join the newsletter, today!

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    You shouldn't have to fight off your inner critic alone. If you join my newsletter, I'll send you weekly blogs with tips to overcome your inner critic, tricks on writing faster and more effeciently, and encouragement to keep moving forward! 

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The post When Your Inner Critic Says Don’t—Do! Guest post by C.K. Slorra appeared first on Alli Prince.

The one with the moral dilemma

A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away, I stood next to a group of girls my age and realized, for the first time in my life, that other people thought things about me and that those things were not very nice. I was homeschooled, a little overweight, had braces and glasses, and decided when I was thirteen that, to top it all off, I needed a perm.

(Yes, that is a clip-on feather in my hair.)

As you can probably guess, I was very quickly labeled “weird” and written off. From that moment on, I had a very intense moral conflict that went to my very core… To be who I was created to be or to be who I thought everyone wanted me to be.

For a long time I chose the latter. But then I moved to Ohio, where nobody knew me and had zero expectations for who I was, and I was faced with that choice once again. Only this time, I decided to step out and see who it was God created me to be. Was she funny? Mopey? Sarcastic? Sassy?

Much to my disappointment, she was still pretty weird. But, I learned to find that she had some really good qualities too.

As I processed all this change inside myself and wrestled with that inner voice that begged and demanded I be somebody else—somebody better—than who I was, my mentor assigned me to write a book. In the end, even though I didn’t intend to write about this moral conflict I was experiencing, it just sort of…came out.

Who you are—what is inside of you—comes out in your writing, whether you like it or not. This moral conflict is strongly presented in my latest book, Copper Lies! In the book, my protagonist, Lillian Booker, wrestled with this very concept…to be who she wants to be, or who she thinks everyone else wants her to be.

Check out the cover below!

Copper Lies

One secret can lead to many lies…

If you make something, and then that something accidentally comes alive and destroys your entire town…would it be fair to say that you destroyed the town, or can we just blame it on the thing?

Lillian Booker is dying to experiment on the strange glowing rocks hidden inside her adoptive father’s workshop—but the professor forbid it before he left on his journey. As Lillian learns all she can about the stones without breaking the professor’s rule, she finds herself stuck between two worlds.

Will she live the life of a brilliant inventor or give up on her dreams and become a respectable lady instead? What will make her happy? Most importantly, which will prove to the professor that he didn’t make a mistake when he chose her?

When Lillian secretly builds a mechanical dragon, one mistake leads to another—the strange glowing stones collide with her creation and her dragon roars to life! Lillian must make a choice…lie and keep her dragon a secret or finally face the truth?

Will any of it matter anyway if the town’s already been destroyed?

God created you on purpose…

The biggest thing I’ve learned since moving out to Ohio (and writing this book) is this. God created me on purpose with a purpose. My voice matters, and the things I say about myself matter, too. It would be so easy to excuse myself, make myself be whoever it was I thought everyone else wanted me to be…but if I kept doing that, this book wouldn’t have been written, and it wouldn’t be published next month.

Your voice matters too. Your unique touch is exactly what God wanted in this world. 🙂

Excited about the message in Copper Lies? Me too!

If you join my release team, not only do you get early access to the book, you also get a signed physical copy, a bunch of mystery prizes. Plus, you’ll get the chance to participate in a couple different games!

Sound like fun? Then you should join my release team! Those on my team get early access to the E-book, PLUS a signed copy and other mystery prizes!

Join the team!

The post The one with the moral dilemma appeared first on Alli Prince.

Copper Lies Cover Reveal

I’m SO excited to share this with you! Copper Lies will be available to the public on December 12, 2024!

That’s a little over a month away. So, for those of you who have been keeping up with this project for the last two years, here it finally is!

Copper Lies

One secret can lead to many lies…

If you make something, and then that something accidentally comes alive and destroys your entire town…would it be fair to say that you destroyed the town, or can we just blame it on the thing?

Lillian Booker is dying to experiment on the strange glowing rocks hidden inside her adoptive father’s workshop—but the professor forbid it before he left on his journey. As Lillian learns all she can about the stones without breaking the professor’s rule, she finds herself stuck between two worlds.

Will she live the life of a brilliant inventor or give up on her dreams and become a respectable lady instead? What will make her happy? Most importantly, which will prove to the professor that he didn’t make a mistake when he chose her?

When Lillian secretly builds a mechanical dragon, one mistake leads to another—the strange glowing stones and her creation collide, her dragon roars to life. Lillian must make a choice…lie and keep her dragon a secret or finally face the truth?

Will any of it matter anyway if the town’s already been destroyed?

Copper Lies

This is the first of many for me. It was the first long-term project I worked on when I first came to The Company. It was the first project I got developmentally edited. The first project that I’ll be publishing that’s 100%, pure, unrefined, me.

It’s the first, but it will hardly be the last. 🙂 Doesn’t that make you want to be part of it?

You see, I’m assembling a team of people who can do what I can’t—review Copper Lies on Amazon on release day! I would love you to be part of this! I’ll have lots of fun things planned in the next month leading up to the release, and you really don’t want to miss out.

Check out the button or click the link here to read more about joining my release team!

Join my team!

A big thank you to everyone who is already on my team, and everyone who helped me get the book to this place! More exciting things will be coming soon, so stick around and see what’s up! 🙂

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    You shouldn't have to fight off your inner critic alone. If you join my newsletter, I'll send you weekly blogs with tips to overcome your inner critic, tricks on writing faster and more effeciently, and encouragement to keep moving forward! 

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The post Copper Lies Cover Reveal appeared first on Alli Prince.

How to take critique without letting your inner critic ruin EVERYTHING

Last week, I talked about the power of critique.

I touched briefly on how critique is important and improves us as a writer, and how it’s not good to let your inner critic take control in times of editing. But that still leaves us with a very important question.

How the h*ck am I supposed to DO that?!

Fear not, my friends, for your savior has arrived!

I’m kidding. Honestly, I wish I knew an exact twelve-step plan for how to walk into a meeting where you are critiqued and walk away without struggling against your inner critic. This is still something I deal with. In fact, I struggle with it so much that the moment I say, “It’s actually not that bad” about my writing, a record scratches somewhere in the distance as everybody stops, mouths dropped, to turn and stare at me.

But, I have found a couple of mindset changes that help me the most when confronting that ever-present, never-ceasing, critical inner voice.

Not every project works.

This is something I touched on last week.

Not every project of yours is going to work and that’s okay!

If you’re a professional author, not every project you write is going to be published. In fact, not every novel you write should be published. I don’t know about you, but I process my feelings a lot when writing. Some of those words aren’t—and won’t ever—be ready for the world to read. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have written that book or short story, either. This leads to my next point.

Every word you write counts.

Every word you put on the page grows your skill and talent. Eleven years ago, in October of 2013, I decided to write a novella. I had a dream to become a professional author and I was going to make it happen. I sat down and I wrote around 2,000 words every day until I was done. That’s about 10,000 words a week. I ended at 32,574 words, patted myself on the back, and decided to go back and do a light edit for grammar.

I reread the first chapter and realized with abstract horror that it was terrible. But I would have never known it was poor writing if I hadn’t sat down and drummed out 32,000 words. Just like with any skill, it takes time and practice to get good at something.

Looking back on your old writing and noticing that it’s not very good is a good thing. It shows you’ve improved. Kyle Peters talks about this in an episode of the 90-day Novel Challenge that goes into great detail about this very thing. Go watch it here!

Be intentional with your thoughts.

This next one isn’t a single mindset to have but is a way you should live, whether you write or not.

Everybody has a different voice in their head that tells them different things. Commonly it’ll be things like, “you’re not good enough” or “This is garbage” or “I’ll never succeed”.

Only you know the thoughts that tear you down the most. When you get a bad review or receive a harsh critique of your work, it can be so easy to give into those thoughts. They’re often the first thoughts to come to mind. This is what makes taking critique so hard.

Don’t let yourself think those things. Intentionally reframe what you’re thinking and intentionally restate those thoughts in a positive way. Check out this writing reframe for an example (and follow my Instagram or Facebook for more of these!)

Try saying…

Taking every thought captive…

God calls us to take every thought captive and to have a renewed mind. If you said your negative self-hate-fueled thoughts to someone else, would you be loving them? No? Then don’t freaking say it about yourself!

I’m going to leave you with a challenge this week. Are you ready?

Challenge: invite Jesus into your thought-life. Ask him what he thinks about your story. Ask him to reframe the thoughts and to renew your mind. 😊 See what He has to say about the matter.

Want to read a short story about the inner critic? Here’s one for free!

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Grab your copy! Your short story is on the way! Happy reading!

The post How to take critique without letting your inner critic ruin EVERYTHING appeared first on Alli Prince.

The Power of Critique

We’re a little over a week away from Halloween.

That means that lots of people are paying attention to the scariest things we could experience on this earth. People will dress up as werewolves, vampires, and worse, the IRS guy, but none of those things compare to the truly, most terrifying, gut-twisting thing on this entire planet.

Giving your story over to someone for critique. :O

I know—I know. It’s horrifying to even think about, let alone actually do. For those of us with an out-of-control inner critic, submitting something for critique can be overwhelmingly terrifying. After all, just because we’ve said bad things about ourselves and our writing doesn’t mean we want other people to say those things, too.

A Positive Critique Experience

I found critique so scary that, when I had to give my novella, Copper Lies, to my editor, Brad Pauquette, I actually prayed for months that it would remain on the bottom of his to-do list. For a short while, my prayers were answered, and my editor felt really bad about it (sorry Brad.) But then, eventually, he got through his to-do list and got to work on my novella.

Lucky for me, my editor thought the story was worth moving forward with, and all that fear, hesitation, and misguided prayer against my editor were for naught. (Again, so sorry, Brad). After implementing the edits recommended, the book was ready to move forward.

In fact, I’ll be releasing Copper Lies in December! (You can Join my newsletter to get regular updates about it, or consider donating to help produce the book!)

Now, I know what you may be thinking. “Alli, that’s all well and good, but you’re a good writer. You shouldn’t fear critique because it will always turn out well for you.”

I so desperately wish that was true.

Not every project works.

After I wrote Copper Lies, I moved on to writing a novel. It was an ambitious project, with a really interesting premise. However, it wasn’t in the POV I tend to write in, nor did it play to my writing strengths. It was a challenge, and I struggled to write and then edit it. In fact, I found it so bad, that Jesus himself had to show up in a dream to tell me not to give up (read about that experience here).

I hated it. Every chapter, every character, every single word. I knew it was terrible—for real this time. Not just my inner critic getting out of control.

Finally, I called it done and sent it to my editor.

And he agreed with me. It needed work—a lot of work—before it would be even close to publishable.

Disgraced. Rejected. Publically humiliated. Why, it was more than I could bare.

All the words that people had spoken over me came rushing back.

“You’ll never be good enough,” “You’ll never amount to anything,” “You are a stupid girl with stupid ideas.”

I had a choice to make: move on with the project and do the work that needed to be done, or set it aside and let it breathe.

Of course, there is the secret, third option, too. Let the project’s failure define me as a writer. Give up on all hopes, dreams, and aspirations of succeeding and, ultimately, call it quits as a professional author and go get a job at Dairy Queen. It’s not a super appealing option, though, is it?

Moving On

Ultimately, I decided to put the project aside and let it breathe—for now. Right now, it’s sitting on the bottom right shelf of my desk, tucked away. One day, when I’ve grown a little more as a writer, I’ll revisit that project and try again. But until then, it’s okay to set it aside and let it breathe.

Not every project is going to work. Not everything you write is going to be publishable. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth writing. You grow your skills and understanding with every word you put onto the page—whether anybody else will see them or not.

I don’t know where that novel is going to go. It could sit there on my desk for the next twenty years before I’m ready to revisit it. But it taught me something important. It showed me where my writing weaknesses were and how to fix them. It grew me as a writer and a person.

The failure I experienced in that project pointed out where I needed to grow for my next project—and so far, I have!  That’s the power of critique. So don’t give into your inner critic when a project gets a rough critique or when someone leaves a bad review on your book. You have a choice to make.

Let it grow you, or give in to your inner critic.

Want help overcoming your inner critic? Join my newsletter!

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The post The Power of Critique appeared first on Alli Prince.

Your Inner Critic Makes Community Miserable – Vella Karman

Did you watch Inside Out 2?

The best part of the whole movie is the scene where Riley is self-conscious about her arms swinging while she walks.

She tries a bunch of different things with her hands, but no matter what she does, her inner critic (represented by the emotion Anxiety), points out how awkward or weird it is.

The critique finally ends when she puts her hands in her pockets and tunes into the conversation. She realizes everyone is laughing and she has no clue what they’re laughing about.

She missed out on the fun because of her inner critic.

Your inner critic is attacking your community.

Our inner critic attacks way more than just what we’re doing with our physical bodies. When I’m vulnerable, it’s usually followed by a swarm of critiquing thoughts in my head. You probably shouldn’t have said that. She really didn’t want to know. You should’ve kept that to yourself. You’re a burden. You should do something for her to make up for it.

When I try to include myself, I hear more lies. They don’t really want you here. You’re intruding.

When something upsets me, my inner critic often tells me not to hash it out with people. You shouldn’t be offended by that. It’s your fault anyways. You’re a bad friend.

When I stay late, I hear that I should’ve gone home and worked on something productive. When I leave early, I hear that I don’t spend enough time with other people and community takes work.

No matter what I do, my inner critic will critique it.

Your inner critic makes community miserable.

Your inner critic makes community miserable. It’s true.

If you want to test yourself, think about this: when’s the last time you answered the question “how are you” honestly?

Why does our entire society lie when someone asks this? Sure, we’re scared of vulnerability. But the inner critic has its part to play, too. They don’t really want to know. You’re oversharing. You should stop talking about yourself and ask how they’re doing. It’s all part of your inner critic’s ruse.

Your inner critic is lying to you.

Okay, I can be cynical, but I don’t want to be. So I’m gonna ignore cynicism and trust that you’re tracking with me.

Other people care about you. That’s true.

The biggest lie that your inner critic feeds off of is that you’re not already loved.

If you believe in the deepest part of your heart that you’re completely loved and loveable just as you are, it doesn’t matter if your arms swing weirdly when you walk or you stay fifteen minutes late or leave fifteen minutes early. It’s no big deal. It’s low stakes.

Your mistakes (even when you make big ones) don’t matter because you don’t need to prove yourself. Your inner critic is trying to make you operate out of a place of trying to be enough, trying to earn love. A place where your worth is threatened by little critiques.

This is the place where perfectionism and anxiety thrive.

And this is the place where Jesus can change everything.

Because the truth is, God is love. And he completely and utterly loves us beyond what we can understand or imagine.

He created us for community and he wants us to enjoy it. Since your inner critic makes community miserable, it’s time to banish it.

And if you want to conquer other fears and awkwardnesses that stand between you and belonging, join my email list and we can find a way to belong together. I’m cheering you on. 🙂

Vella Karman loves God, people, and stories. Her writing has been read in more than 30 countries so far and she aspires to write raw, impactful stories that spread light and belonging across the world.

Read more at vellakarman.com or follow @vellakarmanauthor on Instagram to connect!

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The post Your Inner Critic Makes Community Miserable – Vella Karman appeared first on Alli Prince.

Lawless, Behind-the-scenes with Brad Pauquette

It’s been a little over half a year since we released Lawless into the wild, so it’s about time we shared some Behind-The-Scenes knowledge, wouldn’t you agree?

Welcome to Covenant, a post-apocalyptic, dystopian Earth where technological advancement has come to a jarring halt and resources are sparse. The Journeymen, a group of people chosen by a mysterious deity called Donumdonair, must struggle through treacherous deserts inhabited by two tyrannical tribes─the fierce Desperados and The Order of Kosmoa. The Journeymen must fight against the destruction and desires of the world around them as they strive to survive.

Inspired by the book of Judges, watch as Donumdonair chooses the most unlikely heroes to showdown with demons, triumph over armies, and fight the galactic battles that rage around and in them.

(If you haven’t had the chance to, check out Lawless here!)

This was a massive project to undertake. With fourteen stories, each over 5,000 words, we had a lot to do to produce this book in the time frame we’d set. This past week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brad Pauquette, the Producer and Supervising Editor of Lawless, and he had some wise words to share about what exactly goes into a project like this.

For those who don’t know, Brad was my mentor when I was an apprentice at The Company. He guided me in all things writing for the past two years and helped coach me in leading this project! Now that the book release is behind us and I’m officially graduated, I got to ask Brad what he really thought about Lawless. (He asked me some questions too, so go check those out here!)

So, without further ado, here are the Behind-the-scenes of Lawless with Brad Pauquette!

Describe what Lawless is about in your own words?

Lawless is an imaginative, edgy collection of sci-fi stories inspired by the book of Judges in the Bible. Fourteen stories share a common universe in a near-future dystopian world. These fourteen authors were selected based on a writing sample, and then given a Bible passage which they were supposed to use to inspire their own story.

Lawless, like the book of Judges, is about broken men trying to fix a broken world and doing an absolutely messed up job of it, but God showing up anyway.

Plus our version has plasma rifles, space pirates, and a comprehensive fictional culture.

Which was your favorite story (besides your own)?

There are so many good stories in Lawless, but hands down my favorite is “The Stars Stand Witness” by Drake McDonald. This is the last story in the book and it’s based on the story from the book of Judges where the woman is raped and then cut up and sent out to the twelve tribes.

The Bible story is so intense, and Drake handled it really well. It’s not too graphic or gory, but it also doesn’t shy away from the reality of the source material.

Drake also wrote an absolutely stunning story with multiple points of view. As an editor, I can tell you that this is exceptionally difficult to do well, especially with a short piece. It’s an impressive story in many ways.

The irony, I don’t think we’ve shared this before, is that Drake almost wasn’t selected for the book. We actually chose a different writer, but she backed out when she learned what story she’d have to use from Judges. It was just too much for her. Drake barely squeaked in, and I’m so glad he did. It wouldn’t be the same book without him!

I also love the messaging of Drake’s story. I won’t spoil it, but I couldn’t think of a better way to exit Lawless then with the way Drake brings this crazy story together.

In what way did you see God move the most with this project?

When I first envisioned this project, it was mostly just with the intention of giving our apprentices at The Company a real-world opportunity to gain experience in the publishing process. I’d say “Mission Accomplished” on that one. I think we produced an absolutely first-class book together, and Alli, you really stretched and did a great job.

I think I really believed it could be more when you and I workshopped our original stories at one of The Company’s open writers workshops. Someone was giving critique on my story and they said something like, “It made me want to go re-read the Bible.” I don’t think we could ask for anything better than that.

What was the most challenging part of this project for you?

Groups of people are always challenging. I love people, but the more personalities you get on a project like this, there’s just bound to be complications.

Fortunately, I mostly coached you through your management of the process, which is good and bad. I’m glad I didn’t have to do it, but that’s also hard in its own way. There were definitely times that I would have loved to push you out of the seat and just do it myself, but that would have defeated my primary mission with the project. There were a couple of times that I stepped in directly to help the more challenging authors move through the process, but I did my best to be the coach and not the player.

I don’t mean that with any ill-will towards any of the authors. Projects like this can be hard on both sides of the table, and that’s kind of what you want. You want people who really care and take it seriously, so we can’t be upset when they do! But nonetheless, it sometimes requires a special finesse to bring all of the pieces together.

What’s the funniest thing that happened while we were making this book?

I had a lot of fun working with you on this project, Alli. I can think of a number of things, and near the top of the list would be the day that we came up with all of the alternative curse words for the universe of Lawless.

The funniest thing, though, might be the spine of the book. The word “Lawless” is written from bottom to top, whereas most books the words go from top to bottom. It’s not completely standardized, but it’s pretty unusual to see a book like ours.

When we sent the books out, several people asked me if that was intentional, because it’s Lawless. It’s totally not, that was just a mistake. But I mostly responded, “In those days, each man did what was right in his own eyes.”

What advice would you give authors who want to run their own anthologies?

Know your process, and know it’s going to take longer than you think it will. It always does.

Remember that every time you turn over a round of elements, you are editing an entire book worth of material. That’s going to add up, fast. Some stories you’ll need to read 4+ times before the book goes out. Make sure that your timeline is accounting for that processing time.

We’re going to release all of the pre-planning materials that we sent out to our authors in the next couple of weeks, so subscribe to my newsletter at BradPauquette.com so that you don’t miss it. I think that example will be really helpful.

Now that the book has been for a while, what are your hopes for the Lawless project?

I think it’s a really neat book that a lot of people will enjoy. I hope it inspires them to really consider these stories from Judges that are really edgy and raw. You know, the stories that we’re inclined to just gloss over and kind of forget about. I hope it inspires people to really chew on them and ponder why God inspired and included them in the Bible.

I’d also love for it to continue to grow and to be a portfolio piece for you, Alli. I think it’s a great example of what you can achieve and what you learned at The Company. I hope that it continues to collect real reviews from real readers, and demonstrates the quality you’re capable of achieving.

Thanks for working so hard on this project, I think it really paid off! I’m glad that we can share it with the world, and have some fun with stuff like this now.

Brad Pauquette is the director of The Company, a community of Spirit-filled professional and aspiring professional writers. He lives in Cambridge, Ohio with his wife and six kids, and is the #1 Best Selling author of The Novel Matrix. Learn more about Brad and subscribe to his free newsletter at BradPauquette.com.

You can also read “The Deliverer,” Brad’s story in Lawless, absolutely for free at this link: https://lawlessbook.com/sample-stories/ 

Writing is complicated…but it doesn’t have to be.

There’s lots of writing advice out there. Some of it is good, a lot of it is bad, and all of it is hard to sort through. Do you want to be a writer? Get yourself The Novel Matrix. It’s not academically written with long, complicated words and dull educational prose. It’s easy to understand and even easier to implement! Check it out here!

For more writing encouragement, check out my newsletter!

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The post Lawless, Behind-the-scenes with Brad Pauquette appeared first on Alli Prince.