Hi everyone –
I have been deluged with questions since Spy School Revolution came out, and while I have been doing my best to answer them, I have noticed that there are categories of questions that come up again and again. So rather than answering them repeatedly, I figured I’d try to address them in a blog post.
Category One: Questions about what is going to happen in future books
This is the type of question I get asked the most and there’s a simple reason why I feel it would be better not to answer them: Because it will ruin future surprises in the books for you — and this ruin some of the fun of reading those books.
You hate spoilers, right? Well, asking me to tell you who Ben Ripley will end up with — or whether or not a character you like is going to reappear in a future book — or really anything about the future of any series — is asking me to spoil something for you. I know you want to find out what’s in store, but I promise you, the less you know about what’s coming, the more fun the read will be.
Category Two: Questions about things that didn’t get answered in the books
If I didn’t share a piece of information with you in the book, that wasn’t an oversight. It’s because I didn’t want to share that piece of information. Often, this is because I’m saving it to reveal in another book.
For example, I know there are some questions left at the end of SSR. But if I had wanted to answer those questions, I would have. I promise, they will eventually be answered — although I think most of you could probably make very educated guesses about what happened.
Category Three: Questions about obscure things
An author can’t possibly tell you every single thing that happened to every single character over the course of their lives. Honestly, we can’t possibly even imagine all those things. We have to leave many things out of the story. So if you’re writing to ask what happened to a character after the Moon Base Alpha series ended — or what a character likes for breakfast — or when a character’s birthday is — or whether someone likes cats or dogs better — the answer is honestly: I don’t know. Whatever you imagine the answer to be is good enough for me.
Category Four: Questions about what my characters look like
I get a lot of requests to specifically describe characters which is because I didn’t specifically describe many of them in my books. That’s because, frankly, I don’t think extremely specific character descriptions are very helpful. My own experience is that, no matter how specifically a character is described, I probably imagine them the way I want to anyhow. So I’m pretty sure that you do the same. Therefore, whatever you imagine a character to look like is what they look like.
Now, this doesn’t really work for graphic novels or movies. You will very obviously see the characters in the graphic novels, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that is the only way they can look. It’s just one version. The chances are very slim that any character will look exactly as you imagined them in the graphic novel — or the movie. There is nothing i or anyone else can do about this. That’s just the way things are. Try not to be disappointed.
And finally, this is probably the question I get asked more than any other, even though it is answered elsewhere on this site:
Category Five: Questions about how many books will be in each series
I can’t answer a question I don’t know the answer to. And right now, I do not know how long each series will go. Sorry.
Dear Mr Gibbs,
I have a few questions.
1) What spy school book did you have the most fun writing?
2) Did you ever work very hard on a book that you couldn’t get published?
3) What kind of books do publishers usually decline and why?
4) What was your favorite subject in school?
Thank you for your patience
Malorylover –
1) I have enjoyed writing all the SS books.
2) I worked very hard on LOTS of books that didn’t get published.
3) I don’t think there is a specific type of book that publishers decline. They are just looking for good books. If they reject one, that probably means they didn’t think it was good enough to publish.
4) My favorite subjects were creative writing and biology.
Dear Mr. Gibbs
I had a few questions on blackout and some other stuff
1) In blackout, the relationship between Erica and Ben seemed to be more like they were teammates, so does that imply that they are not dating anymore and in future books?
2)How did you get inspiration to make such simple covers, you are one of the only authors I have read to use this technique
3)As an author myself, I was just wondering how you go about writing books. Do you have a big brainstorming session to come up with all the details or make it up as you go? (I couldn’t find this in the FAQ page)
Thank you, and have been a great fan of your books!
satiak –
Ben and Erica have not lost their feelings for each other. It’s just that I have written a lot of books that have dwelt on their relationship and I can’t keep doing it. (In fact, I had a subplot involving their relationship in the original draft of Blackout, but my editor felt it wasnt adding anything new to the series — and she was right — so I changed things to focus on Erica’s relationship with Trixie instead, which was something I hadn’t done yet. Honestly, one of the things about two characters in a good relationship is that good relationships aren’t that interesting, which is why so many TV shows have a will-they-or-won’t-they relationship for so long and avoid ever letting the characters get together. (For example, in a good relationship, they shouldn’t really have crushes on other people, even though that would create tension.)
I do not illustrate my own covers. They are done by Lucy Ruth Cummins. She is the one who had the inspiration. All I did was say ‘Wow, that’s great.’
I have an entire page of writing advice on this website and that page has a link to a six part video series that I did called Mission Write that goes deep into my writing process. Check that out.
Hi Mr. Gibbs,
Wow, that’s really interesting! As much as I love Ben and Erica, I really appreciated the focus on Trixie and Erica’s relationship. Would you be willing to share anything about what the Ben and Erica subplot was in the original Blackout draft? And going off of that question, how much does a book usually change from draft to draft? Is the final story usually pretty close to the original draft, or is it often that larger aspects of the book are changed, like subplots and such?
Super excited for SSGE and everything else coming this year! Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to these comments. 🙂
Ava –
How much a book changes from draft to draft can vary a great deal. My plots tend to stay the same, because I work them out rather well before I start writing, but other things, like subplots, can still change.
That said, I do not like to share things that I left out of the books.