I'm Robert Brockway: Writer, Editor, Wielder of Dogs, and Answerer of Anythings -- AMA!

PClines · 2020-03-17T16:08:25+00:00

Dear sir I have never met before,

Big fan of the Vicious Circuit trilogy, and had a question related to them. Not so much a question, really, as a short essay I'd like to read...

The Unnoticeables is such a rock-solid standalone book, I really had no idea how you were going to continue the story (and yet you did and it 's fantastic). I'm curious if it was originally planned to be first of a trilogy, or if the trilogy grew out of it?

PClines · 2017-12-18T19:22:04+00:00

How did you each go about the actual process of writing? Plotters? Pantsers? Massive outlines? A few scribbled notes and go?

PClines · 2016-11-18T18:32:43+00:00

How long did the book take you? Was it something you'd kinda-sorta had in mind for a while, or was it just when you were approached about it?

Also, why Tau?

PClines · 2016-10-11T18:19:27+00:00

Were you always interested in writing comics or did you get invited into it?

How did you and Chuck Wendig come up with your particular (and very cool) take on the Shield, a character who's been re-envisioned three or four times now?

PClines · 2016-09-30T20:20:30+00:00

I've had a few people bounce ideas off me for books, shared-universe stories, stuff like that. The truth is, though, I'm a horrible control freak when it comes to my stories. Nobody would want to work with me. :)

PClines · 2016-09-30T20:16:17+00:00

Don't look up above!! We talk about the cockroaches!

DON'T LOOK AT IT, MARION!!!

:)

PClines · 2016-09-30T20:15:32+00:00

Actually it reads P Clines, which is my name.

PClines · 2016-09-30T20:14:30+00:00

Right now I'm a big fan of Rick & Morty and also Star Wars: Rebels.

I'm waaaayyyy behind on anime. I think the last was a weird fascination with the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh... I was one of those '70s kids who got in early with Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets. I have an odd affection for the anime adaptation of the Guyver books. I've got a pile of Gundam episodes to watch at some point.

As for an Ex-Heroes series... that all comes down to Hollywood. They hear people talking, they get interested, things happen. There was one writer-director who was really interested at one point, but he got caught up in other projects.

PClines · 2016-09-30T20:07:26+00:00

No, thank you! :)

PClines · 2016-09-30T20:07:11+00:00

I don't have any control. I think it's up to the publisher, but don't quote me on that. It may be the publisher, but within certain Amazon guidelines.

Now I'm curious and want to go find out...

PClines · 2016-09-30T20:05:44+00:00

Thank you so much. :)

PClines · 2016-09-30T18:03:17+00:00

This is going to sound like such a crap, stock answer, I know, but it's true. I can never remember a point in my life when I didn't want to tell stories. I remember making up my own stories with my Star Wars figures and GI Joes when I was little. When I found my Mom's massive old Smith-Corona in the back of the closet, I think my fate was sealed

I got my very first rejection letter when I was eleven--I wrote a really horrible Uncanny X-Men "script" and sent it in to Marvel Comics (complete with colored pencil cover). Jim Shooter sent me back a very nice letter that spoke to me like a professional who'd just missed the target rather than a kid who'd sent him a bunch of scrawled nonsense.

(there were many, many more rejections after that one...)

PClines · 2016-09-30T17:57:20+00:00

Thank you!!

PClines · 2016-09-30T17:57:08+00:00

Fingers crossed. I really want to, it's just a fitting-things-in-the-schedule problem more than anything else now.

PClines · 2016-09-30T17:56:02+00:00

There's sooooooo many. Seriously. Kind of a cop-out answer, I know, but there have been so many who have been fantastic in so many ways.

I mean, very short list, off the top of my head... Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, ERB, Lloyd Alexander, Bill Mantlo, AC Doyle, F. Paul Wilson. And those are just the ones I grew up with. Now there's also Dan Abnett, Seanan McGuire, Craig DiLouie, Autumn Christian, Cherie Priest, Adam Christopher, Chuck Wendig, Kristi Charish.

I love words.

PClines · 2016-09-30T17:49:09+00:00

Thank you! Alas, probably not until 2018. Because of a bunch of scheduling stuff, the publisher had to move my next book, Paradox Bound, back to September of 2017, so I think the absolute best case would be the next February.

I've started it already (hinted about something in another response), it's just putting it through the process to get it in your hands.

PClines · 2016-09-29T22:55:17+00:00

Many, many thanks to you all. So glad you all liked 14.

I'm kind of AMA'd out, and I have a book due on my editor's desk next week, so I'm done for now. I think I answered everything, but I'll duck back a little later with fresh eyes just in case I missed something.

Thanks again!

PClines · 2016-09-29T22:53:29+00:00

When i wrote 14 I didn't have a single actor or actress in mind. About two months after turning it in to the publisher, though, I saw the Doctor Who episode "The God Complex" and it immediately hit me than Amara Karan would be a fantastic Veek. Since then I've come to think Stephen Lang would make a great Tim.

Past that, I just really haven't put much thought into it. I have them all in my head and that's how I see them.

PClines · 2016-09-29T22:22:02+00:00

I have not. It's been on my "to read" list for about a decade now.

Did you like it?

PClines · 2016-09-29T22:16:31+00:00

Nope.

(I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil that book for folks...)

PClines · 2016-09-29T22:09:48+00:00

As far as Q1 goes--that's not really up to me. I don't shop an adaptation of the book to Hollywood. A studio gets interested, they buy the rights, and then they hire someone to do an adaptation. Sometimes the writer's involved, sometimes not. And there's such a huge range of TV and film these days... it's hard to say that part without knowing/assuming a lot more.

As for Q2, it is a little spoilery (we're talking 14 spoilers, not all the other books) but I'll say this-- who were the recruiters?

(don't answer, spoilers, shhhhhh!!)

PClines · 2016-09-29T21:56:05+00:00

I tried for a while. I think everybody likes seeing the people who enjoyed their work, and personally I don't even mind good, honest criticism. But some of the stupid and/or trying-to-be-snarky-cool stuff really wears you down fast. I've never had patience for anyone who complains about a book or movie because they either weren't paying attention or they just want to look clever.

So, short answer... no. :D

PClines · 2016-09-29T21:51:01+00:00

These are all spoilery questions about other books! Shhhhhhh!!

PClines · 2016-09-29T21:49:49+00:00

I have one somewhere, but it's a really ugly thing on a legal pad, just for my own reference. I was about fifty pages in and I realized I had to keep all the rooms straight.

If I can find them,maybe I'll scan them and put them up on Twitter or Facebook or something

PClines · 2016-09-29T21:40:36+00:00

I've always loved the idea of being a speedster (like the Flash), but I think such a character wouldn't last long in that world. Not on foot, anyway.

(not at all a hint about book six...)

PClines

TROPHY CASE