Sara Zarr Character Quotations

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.

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.

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.

My first job is to write the characters as full and authentic people as well as I can.

I didn't 'decide' to write YA, per se. But every time I thought of a story, it featured characters 15, 16, 17.

I don't like to do too much psychological research because it might turn a character into a patchwork.

I'm not really a plot writer - I'm more interested in the characters and sort of small events that propel the story forward.