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/ 

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