An Interview with B.W. Morris

The Red and Black books are all about the trials and tribulations of superheroes, but it’s certainly not the only series to focus on that. Today, we’re going to explore the Six Pack Universe with author B.W. “Bob” Morris. Read on to learn about Hunger Games-inspired dystopias,  and how Bob’s career as a small-town journalist helps him write better teenagers.

Hey Bob! Why don’t you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and the books you’ve written?

I have written three books in a trilogy called The Six Pack Series. The books focus on Tyler Ward and his five friends, who take a drink that gives them special powers. They then discover a movement building against the Novusordo government, who uses another drink to keep the population from engaging in reason and, thus, makes the population more suspect to the government’s agenda. Tyler and his friends need to figure out how they are going to use their powers, work together, and work with this movement.

Six Pack: Emergence focuses on how the six came to acquire those powers and the challenges they face in controlling them and learning to trust this movement called the Underground Network. Six Pack: Gyration continues their journey, in which they now must figure out exactly how they are going to approach the crusade against the Novusordo government, especially when they take risks on their own. Six Pack: Uprising is when it all comes to a head and, now, it’s become clear a revolution is coming, and the six learning what it means and how it will affect them.

I explored six different characters because I like the concept of superhero team-ups. It was certainly a challenge to explore six different minds, but it was a pretty rewarding experience when everything fell into place with the series.

I’ve also written an Arrowverse “Elseworld” that is available for free on my website. It’s my tribute to my love for the Arrowverse on CW, in which I imagined completely different takes on the primary characters from the Arrowverse at the time I wrote it. That one also featured exploring multiple characters — though it differed from the Six Pack Series in that I wrote that in first person, rather than third person as with the Six Pack Series

Are there any works (comics, books movies, etc) that inspired the Six Pack series?

The first series that inspired it was the animated series Young Justice, which Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti created and are the primary producers. I loved how they took different twists on teenaged superheroes and how their relationship developed. They took some interesting twists with how the characters developed over time and had some surprise turns along the way. I don’t think I pulled off surprises as well as they did, but they definitely got me inspired to try my hand at novel writing.

But I still needed a setting for my novel, and I didn’t get that idea until I read The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. That gave me the idea for a dystopian environment, which I thought would be a unique approach to take for a superhero series. I also loved how Collins built tension — she is so good at getting you to keep turning the page! Again, I may not have done it as well as she did, but her writing style got me thinking about the importance of page turners.

I also got a little inspiration from 1984 by George Orwell and what a society in which thoughts are controlled might look like, but that was more from a background perspective. But Orwell’s books did get me thinking about dystopian environments and why it’s important to avoid those situations.

Thanks to characters like Peter Parker and the X-men, superpowered teenagers have been an important part of the superhero genre for decades. What made you decide to write about teenagers with superpowers and what sets Tyler Ward and his friends apart?

What makes them unique is they are people who came together by chance, before they ever gained superpowers. They never got together to solve problems in the first place. They, for the most part, had chance encounters that led to them forming a bond, all before they had a drink that gave them powers.

Tyler and Stacy Sanders grew up together, saw themselves like siblings even though they weren’t, and then wound up at the same secondary school, where Tyler met Brad Lawson, who met Jessica Harrison, while Stacy met Linda Russell and David Spencer. And they never did get together to save the world — they became friends but all had no idea about what life would be like after secondary school until Tyler learned from a professor and told the others.

And they never sought to gain powers — it just happened, thanks to the professor leaving a drink for them that they thought was orange juice. So they have to learn whether or not they can trust the professor any longer, plus those who are associated with him. And they have to learn how to trust one another along the way, in ways they couldn’t have imagined.

I do think what makes each of them unique is they have a motivation for wanting to change things, though. Stacy values family, David wants to choose who to marry, Linda wants to achieve great things, Brad doesn’t want to be stereotyped, Jessica wants to make her own decisions and thinks her father forces them upon her — while Tyler isn’t sure what he wants to do, but he values his friendships.

They all have to ask the question about what’s the best way to achieve and preserve what they value, and that leads them to a similar conclusion, though they have different ways of getting there. I think it’s interesting to see how they each see things differently, but see how those views converge into a similar purpose.

How long have you known that you wanted to be a writer? Have you always wanted to write for teenagers?

I’ve been writing for a long time because it’s been my job — though it hasn’t been novel writing! I’ve written for small-town newspapers for nearly 27 years, so I’ve had a lot of practice with that. Of course, writing for a newspaper is different than writing a novel!

I was interested in writing in general since I was 12 but never thought much about fiction writing. But when I got older and started thinking about more ways to explore writing, that’s when the idea for writing a novel came along. I started thinking about this back in 2012 but didn’t sit down and actually start until a few years later.

As for writing for teenagers, I was thinking more about the young adult novels in general and how so many of them can have themes that appeal to adults, too. After all, that’s what The Hunger Games is like. But I do think it’s interesting to explore the idea about teenagers growing up and making adult decisions. Plus, my newspaper writing focuses a lot on school sports and activities, so you get to see kids grow up and watch them evolve from younger kids still learning about the world into young men and women who become leaders and make bigger decisions. I think that helped me with writing The Six Pack Series.

It feels like there are so many people who want to write a book but struggle to fulfill that goal. With the Six Pack series, you’ve published not just one book but three. What convinced you to go from aspiring writer to published author, and do you have any advice for new writers who have yet to make the jump?

I will say what just about every author says: Do a lot of reading and a lot of writing. Reading helps you understand the elements of a book and gives you an idea about the approaches different authors may take. Writing doesn’t just have to be fiction — it’s almost always about an idea in your head that gets put into words. While the various types of writing differ, they are similar in that aspect about an idea transformed into words.

I also recommend that authors take the time to observe people around them. Get an idea about how people have different personalities, different mindsets, different ideas. Groups aren’t a monolith, whether you talk about big groups or smaller ones, so don’t treat them as such. While you don’t want to fall into stereotypes, I find it helps to think about personality and mindset first, then go from there.

What comes next for you? Are you writing anything new, either connected to your Six Pack series or otherwise?

I have had multiple ideas running through my head but haven’t had a chance to sit down and put things together. I imagine a lot of authors are like that! Much of this comes down to the inspiration side of things, but some of it comes down to just putting an idea on paper and then getting the characters to come to mind. I do have one idea for a spinoff book connected to The Six Pack Series, but I may need to revamp some things to get that to work.

Where can people find you online?

My website, my Facebook page, and my Twitter profile. I’m trying to be on my Facebook page more often and have been doing Show And Tell Fridays each Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Central time, in which I do a Show And Tell segment like children may do at a young age in school, then talk about a particular topic. I update my website every Sunday and feature reviews of superhero, science fiction, and fantasy shows. I also do Twenty Questions sessions with authors and a book review once in a while. I do have a Goodreads account, but I’m not there much any longer.

 

Thanks so much for answering my questions, Bob! 

The Six Pack Series is currently available on amazon.