Pageonelit.com: What was it like growing
up in Georgia? What were a few of your favorite books early?
Stuart Woods: Once I took a friend from
Atlanta to see my hometown.
As we we're driving down Third Street, where I grew up, he 
asked, Isn't this the street where
Andy Hardy used to live? That's what it was like, and I was pretty
much Andy Hardy. My mother taught me to read a year before I
went to school, and I became a voracious reader. I loved Mark
Twain, Dickens and the Hardy Boys.
Pageonelit.com: I read where the only writing
class you ever took was a correspondence course at the
University of Georgia. Is this true and if so, what do you attribute
your writing talent?
Stuart Woods: You learn to write by reading;
that's what I attribute my early leanings to working in advertising
helped teach me to write persuasively, and most of all, it taught
me the invaluable skill of writing whether I'm in the mood or
not."
Pageonelit.com: How much time does it take
you to prepare, write, and revise a novel?
Stuart Woods: When I finish a novel, I ship
the manuscript off to my editor, and while he’s reading
it, I begin a new one. I write half a dozen chapters and a brief
synopsis - just enough to get my publishers hooked - then, as
soon as they've accepted the idea, I ignore the synopsis and
let the book lead where it will. I write two books a year, so
I suppose the process takes about six months, though I don't
work every day. I’ve always been lightly edited; it’s
never taken me more than a week to do the revisions my editor
requests, and I often do them in a single day. I had a thrilling
experience with my new novel, The Short Forever.
I sent the completed manuscript to my editor with a note saying
that I was leaving the country in a few weeks, and I'd appreciate
it if he could send me his notes as soon as possible, so I could
do the revisions before I departed. He called a few days later
to say he didn't have any notes. That's the first time that's
ever happened, but I hope it's not the last.
Some parts of the publishing process overlap from
book to book. While I’m writing a new novel, I’ll be
working with my publishers on the jacket design and copy for
the last book, and I’m always thinking ahead a book, so
that when I finish one, I can start another immediately. I write
on a computer, using WordPerfect. I begin the day by reading
what I wrote the day before and making small corrections, then
I write a new chapter, which is usually five to ten pages. This
takes about two hours. I seem to have a gift for keeping the
story in my head, because, unless I spend a lot of time away
from the book, I don’t need to re-read what I’ve already
written.
Pageonelit.com: Your novel, WORST FEARS
REALIZED, brings back a familiar character Stone Barrington.Where
did the title come from and what can you tell us about writing
this book?
Stuart Woods: The title is an old catch
phrase that was brought
into my frontal lobe once again in the film Cold Comfort Farm.
I said to my wife at the time, as I often do, that would make
a good title. I think I wrote the book to the title."
Pageonelit.com: I've heard some novelists
say the first page of a book should give a reader a hint into
what they may expect. In WORST FEARS REALIZED I noticed
the word "pain" used three times on the first page
of Chapter one --- Was this intentional?"
Stuart Woods: I wasn't aware of using 'pain'
three times, so it wasn't calculated. I try to write the early
chapters in a way that will keep 
people
reading, but then, I try to write every chapter that way. I think
the reader will give you the benefit of the doubt for a few chapters,
so you'd better hook him early. I practice by writing half a
dozen chapters that will hook my publishers."
Pageonelit.com: Have you ever worked on
two or more books at the same time? How do you stay so consistent
with your publishing?"
Stuart Woods: The only time I've ever written
two books at once is when I was writing a novel and some chapters
of a memoir. I wrote one in the morning and the other in the
afternoon, and since they had nothing to do with each other,
I don't think I got them mixed up. I still haven't finished the
memoir."
Pageonelit.com: It's well known how much
you enjoy sailing --- Which came first writing novels or sailing
boats? What has been the most difficult challenge you have faced
in your sailing career? And if you had to give up one which and
why?"
Stuart Woods: Novel writing and sailing
happened at just about the same time, 
but
you'll have to wait for my memoir to learn all about that. I
think I've already given up sailing, except on other peoples'
boats, but I still have a little motorboat, which was just freed
from the yard last week, and I'm looking forward to using that
in Maine."
Pageonelit.com: You are well known for creating
suspense. What techniques do you use when plotting (outline or
no outline) to achieve that timing of the suspense and action
which keeps the reader eager to turn the page to see what happens
next?"
Stuart Woods: Writing is like singing: everybody
can do it a little, and those who do it a lot do it better. But
it's the gifted who do it really well. When I write a novel,
I do it in a very improvisational way, rather than in a calculated
way. I'm afraid to examine the mechanism too closely, for fear
it will break or go away. For me, writing is a kind of magic
and shouldn't be questioned too closely."
Pageonelit.com: Rumor has it that you may
be writing a memoir--is this true? And do you think there is
a different approach
to memoir writing than novels?"
Stuart Woods: As I said earlier, I am planning
a memoir, but God knows when I'll get it done. I plan to incorporate
my earlier memoir Blue Water, Green Skipper, into the book. Why
write it again?"
Pageonelit.com: Do you have a favorite Stuart
Woods novel? Which one and why?"
Stuart Woods: I don't know which is my novels
is the best, but my favorite will always be Chiefs, because
it's my firstborn, and because it's all 
caught
up with hometown, childhood and family. Also, it proved to me
that I could actually write a novel, and every novelist has to
prove that to himself over and over. Chiefs gave me the
confidence to go on writing."
years were devoted to a career
in advertising, as an award winning writer for agencies in New
York and London. CHIEFS, published in 1981 garnered excellent
reviews and and won Mr. Woods an Edgar Allen Poe Award. CHIEFS
was filmed for television as a six-hour drama starring Charlton
Heston and Stuart Wood's established himself as one of the most
popular writers in the world with novels such as DEEP LIE
(1986), UNDER THE LAKE (1987), DEAD IN THE WATER
(1997) & ORCHID BEACH (1998) published in over fifteen
different languages. Stuart Woods lives on the Treasure Coast
of Florida, on an island off the coast of Maine, and in Litchfield
County, Connecticut. He is a licensed private pilot, and currently
flies a Jetprop, which is a Piper Malibu Mirage (a six-passenger,
pressurized single-engine airplane) on which the piston engine
has been replaced by a turboprop (a jet engine turning a propeller).
He sails on other peoples' boats, owns a 28-foot power boat,
and is a partner in a 77-foot antique motor yacht, built in 1929
and recently restored to like-new condition. He is a born-again
bachelor and lives on the Treasure Coast of Florida, on an island
in Maine, and in New York City.