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
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.
felt life people
I always felt that church is where I'm going to find my community and people to live my life with.
communication conquer familiar generally haunted hope life particular pattern pet quite recurring reflect relationship themes vice ways
We write in ways that, we generally hope, reflect real life, or at least look familiar to humans. And in life, recurring themes are a recurring theme. We never quite conquer a pet vice or a relationship pattern or a communication habit. We're haunted by our particular demons.
deeply describe dna embedded four notice recurring tend themes until written
I tend to describe recurring themes as being part of a writer's DNA - something so deeply embedded in us that even we don't notice it until we've written three or four books.
writing class voice
I was a 'learn by doing' writer - I never took any formal writing classes. So it took a long time to figure things out and find my voice.
years identity crisis
Everyone has an identity crisis when they are 16 or 17 years old.