A Peek Behind the Curtain: Into the (World) of Woods - Guest Post by Brett Battles

I have a story to tell—a story-behind-the-story kind. In this case, the story behind Stuart Woods’s latest Stone Barrington novel Near Miss, which is out June 6. 

Near Miss, as you may already know, is the book Stuart was working on when he passed away in July of 2022, and the book that I was honored and privileged to be asked to complete for him. This behind-the-scenes story of how that came about doesn’t start there, however, but in the fall of 2021, when I was chosen by Stuart to co-author the next book in his Teddy Fay series. 

Teddy is a former spy. I’ve written spy novels for years. Teddy now works in Hollywood. I used to work in Hollywood. A perfect match, if I do say so myself, and I was eager to help Stuart continue the series. 

I spent the next eight or so months working on Obsession (which comes out October 10), and submitted our final draft to the publisher in July, 2022, on a day that turned out to be just a couple weeks before Stuart left us. His passing was a shock and a sad time for his family, his fans, and those of us who worked with him. Personally, I had really enjoyed working with him on Obsession, and was looking forward to doing more with him in the future. But in light of what happened, I realized that Obsession would likely be my only experience writing in the world he had created. 

Not so fast. 

Skip forward to October 4, 2022. In what almost sounds like a globetrotting chapter from a Stone Barrington novel, that morning I and a couple friends left on a flight to Europe for a two-year delayed (thank you, COVID) river cruise with other friends we’d be meeting there. When we landed in NYC to change planes, I saw that I had a voice message from my agent. I was surprised when she told me about Stuart’s unfinished book, and even more so when she said that his family and the publisher wanted to know if I would be interested in tying up the loose ends and completing the story. 

Was I interested? Of course, I was. It would be an honor to finish a manuscript for a legend like Stuart. But the idea of it was a little daunting, too. 

Before I could say yes, I had many questions. Unfortunately, the travel gods worked against me that day. Our landing in NYC had been delayed by the remnants of a hurricane, and by the time we got to the gate, my friends and I had less than ten minutes before our plane to Zurich was to leave. 

Lucky for us, the flight waited and was just a gate away. We raced to it, were shuttled aboard, and the aircraft’s door was literally shut behind us. The unlucky part was that I had no opportunity to call my agent, so I had to live with all those questions rolling around my head until we landed again. 

Well, until we landed in Zurich and waited several more hours, thanks to the six-hour time difference, making it was still the middle of the night in NYC. It was two in the afternoon before I could finally make the call. My agent answered my questions, including telling me about the—shall we say—tight deadline. Of course, in spite of the short amount of time I would have, there was no way I was going to say no. I wanted to honor Stuart by shepherding what he’d started to its end. And I wanted to honor his fans, too, for their years of enjoying Stone Barrington’s adventures. 

That tight deadline I mentioned meant that I needed to get started right away, despite the fact that I was about to step into an eight-day river cruise up the Rhine, with a bunch of friends who would not be happy if I stayed in my room all the time. It was a juggling act of grabbing what time I could to immerse myself in Stone’s world, and enjoying time with friends, many of whom I hadn’t seen in years, but it all worked out. 

So, how does one go about finishing someone else’s book? With great care, and a lot of help. My first task was to read what Stuart had written so far, then sketch out ideas for the parts of the story he hadn’t gotten to yet. By the time I arrived back home, I had a plan in place and was able to immediately dive in to writing new chapters and making sure everything flowed well. 

My goal was to have readers not be able to tell where Stuart’s prose left off and my started. To that end, I paid special attention to keeping his words as unchanged as possible. And in the parts I wrote, I worked hard to create scenes and dialogue and characters that felt like they had come from his keyboard. 

The help came in the from Stuart’s editor at Putnam. Gaby and I would communicate all the time, and I would send her chapters as I finished for her to look over. She is an absolute delight to work with, and the finished book owes a lot to her advice and feedback and knowledge of all things Stone Barrington.  

Working flat out and taking only Thanksgiving Day off, I was able to finish a few days ahead of the deadline. Which ultimately meant Near Miss would be able to come out as planned. 

Completing Near Miss for Stuart is an experience I will never forget, and one I will be thankful for always. I am also so pleased with the results. I hope you are, too.

***

 

Brett Battles is the USA Today bestselling author of more than forty novels, including the Jonathan Quinn, Rewinder, Project Eden, and Night Man Chronicles series. He is a three-time Barry Award nominee, winning for Best Thriller in 2009 for his novel The Deceived.

Stuart Woods was the author of more than ninety novels, including the #1 New York Times bestselling Stone Barrington series. A native of Georgia and an avid sailor and pilot, he began his writing career in the advertising industry. Chiefs, his debut in 1981, won the Edgar Award. Woods passed away in 2022.