Sara Zarr
Sara Zarr
Sara Zarris an American writer. She was raised in San Francisco, and now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband. Her first novel, Story of a Girl, was a 2007 National Book Award finalist. She is also the author of Sweethearts and Once Was Lost. All three are published by Little, Brown...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionYoung Adult Author
Date of Birth3 October 1970
CountryUnited States of America
girl book years
There were about ten years of trying, failing, trying again, suffering rejection, etc. My first published book, 'Story of a Girl', was the fourth book I wrote.
book character growth
My books usually end where they began. I try to bring characters back to a point that is familiar but different because of the growth that they have gone through.
country book editors
My books have been translated into various languages and sold in other countries, but I never have any contact with the foreign publishers and am so disconnected from that process that it seems almost imaginary. With 'How to Save a Life', I worked closely with Usborne editors and have been involved in the publicity.
nice book reading
One of my favorite authors is Robert Cormier. He was a devout Catholic and a very nice man, which might not be the impression you get from reading his books.
girl book firsts
My first published book, Story of a Girl, was the fourth book I wrote.
good knowledge mind neutral patterns recognize recurring terms work
Is it good, bad, or neutral to recognize thematic patterns in your own work? When it comes to recurring themes, I'm of the mind that knowledge is probably not power, at least in terms of the work.
craft please reader trying
I'm so focused on trying to craft the story that I'm in my own little world with it and that process. The one reader I'm trying to please as I write is me, and I'm pretty difficult to please.
characters finished needed reader rewarding says school tells until
When a young reader tells you that they'd never finished a book outside of school until they read yours, or that they really needed to hear something that one of your characters says or thinks... that's just rewarding and humbling.
hope people since
The characters are whole, real people to me that I'm getting to know, and since real people are all flawed, so are my characters, I hope.
discipline good maybe played
I played the clarinet, and my sister played the violin... If we'd had the discipline and the passion, maybe we could have been good.
I don't want to pretend like I'm some intellectual person who understands Flannery O'Connor.
asking characters leading letting lives questions seeing takes unfold
When my characters are questioning things, it's not me leading up to an answer; it's me asking those same questions and letting the characters' lives unfold and seeing where it takes them.
discover excluded favorite lists love ridden task
Making lists of favorite things is, for me, a task ridden with anxiety. What if I've accidentally excluded something I love? What if I discover something new tomorrow that I love even more?
specifics various
Readers want a story, not a pattern. It's the specifics of a story that make it really ping our various reader radars.