5 questions with Stewart O'Nan

If you spend your summers on Misquamicut Beach, odds are you're eating lobster rolls and lolling with a 'Gansett tallboy on a boat and catching tasty waves in finest Jack Johnson fashion.

Or you could write a novel.

Enter bestselling author Stewart O'Nan, author of such wonderfully imagined and disparately themed books as "Last Night at the Lobster," "Songs For the Missing," "The Night Country," "Snow Angel," "Wish You Were Here" and his latest, "Emily, Alone" (Viking, 272 pages).

Though based in Pittsburgh, O'Nan's wife is from Rhode Island and, indeed, the family enjoys quality vacation time on the sands of Misquamicut each summer. Which is how sections of "Emily, Alone," a sequel to "Wish You Were Here," came to be penned on the Rhody shore.

"Emily, Alone" continues the story of Emily Maxwell, now widowed and in her 80s. She's dependent on her equally aged sister-in-law, Arlene, to get around, and she relies with similar emotional intensity on her dog, Rufus, for trusted companionship. There are the complexities presented by two adult children and four grandkids as well as the infirmities of age, and Emily displays wisdom and feisty humor.

When Arlene has a stroke, though, Emily is forced to reclaim her own independence and quality of life against the backdrop of loneliness, dying friends, illness and melancholia.

Since, after all, O'Nan is in the neighborhood, he'll discuss and read from "Emily, Alone" on Sunday in West Kingston at the Courthouse Center for the Arts. The presentation is part of their Authors Circle series, and a wine-and-cheese reception will follow.

Earlier this week, O'Nan was kind enough to answer a few questions before his appearance.

Q: At what point did the idea for a sequel to "Wish You Were Here" occur to you? Was there something so resonant about Emily and Arlene that you knew even working on that first book that you'd write more about the Maxwells? Or has the personal experience of growing older yourself actually made you want to revisit?

A: Originally, "Wish" was going to be all Emily, but as I got into it, I became interested in the other family members, so even when I'd completed it, I knew I had unfinished business with Emily.

Q: I believe I've read that you don't outline a novel in great detail before you write and that the characters ultimately sort of take your hand and lead you. By the time you typed THE END on "Emily, Alone," where had the narrative taken you that surprised you? And did Emily turn out as you'd hoped?

A: I expected Emily would suffer some dire losses - that, by the end, she might truly be alone. What surprised me most was how resilient and resourceful Emily is, how she finds an unexpected strength and really takes the lead in her relationships with Arlene, Henry, and her parents. And her past.

Q: Your innate talent and literary curiosity have resulted in novels across a lot of styles or even genres. It seems to me this would be a blast and very liberating. However, in these economic times with uncertainty in the publishing business, does this occasionally cause consternation with editors/agent?

A: I love to read all different kinds of books, so it makes sense that I'd write them. Plus, it's much more exciting and challenging to try something new. My agent's a former editor, and has a great eye, and a great appreciation for all types of writing, and I've been lucky enough to work with a number of editors with similarly catholic tastes. But not every editor is going to like every book, just as not every reader is going to like every book. That's okay. I'm not writing least-common-denominator stuff. My feeling is that if I'm true to my characters and their worlds, eventually readers who do like the books will spread the word.

Q: Is it true you wrote a lot of "Emily, Alone," in Misquamicut? If that's correct, describe the difficulty in trying to work while the voices of Red Sox announcers Joe Castiglione and Dave O'Brien are just a radio dial away. After all, you're a huge Red Sox and Pirates fan (and co-authored, with your pal Stephen King, "Faithful," a chronicle of the team's immortal 2004 season). In that spirit: could a bad day at Fenway so upset you that you'd look back at your day's work on the computer and discover that Emily did something awful she'd never have done if the Red Sox had won that afternoon?

A: I wrote about 75 pages at Misquamicut - mostly winter scenes, which were a lot of fun to imagine in the broiling summer. I haven't lost sleep over the Red Sox since Oct. 27, 2004. If we lose a tough one, we can always get 'em tomorrow. That's the beauty of baseball: there's always another chance.

Q: I once, in print, made an off-hand comment about how Super Big Gulp fountain drinks at 7-Eleven had saved my soul on numerous occasions - and the Southland Corporation sent me a basket of goodies. Now, "Last Night at the Lobster" is a wonderfully tender story about the final night of business at a Connecticut franshise of the Red Lobster restaurant chain. After it was published, did the Red Lobster folks provide you with a box of those addictive cheese biscuits?

A: No, but since that book, a lot of journalists and photographers have taken me to Red Lobsters, making my wife ask why I don't write a book set in Paris. Hey, I'm from Pittsburgh. I don't know Paris. I know Red Lobster.

Q: Any other thoughts or comments on "Emily, Alone" - or anything that comes to mind?

A. The most important thing for me was getting close and then staying close to Emily so the reader can spend those quiet, intimate moments with her and Rufus. As a reader, that's what I love about fiction - being allowed into another person's life, and understanding how they make it through the days. I think that's just natural human curiosity. How does it feel to be you?