Ask the Author: Sarah Dessen
Answered Questions (43)
Sarah Dessen
I've always written straight through from start to finish. It's just what works for me. I think I need for the novel to build for me the way that it will for the reader. Also I just want to be sure that everything is strong enough to support what comes after it. But everyone is different. I think part of the writing process is a lot of trial and error to find out what works for YOU.
Sarah Dessen
Yes! I loved THE GOLDFINCH, which was so good I was scared to read anything after it, for fear nothing could compete. Right now I'm reading ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes, which is GREAT. I also loved E. Lockhart's WE WERE LIARS, which just came out. It was fabulous. Nonfiction-wise, I loved Rob Lowe's LOVE LIFE and Dan B. Harris' TEN PERCENT HAPPIER. I am always reading something. Or a couple of things. And listening to an audiobook. Always.
Sarah Dessen
Discipline is the key to writing. I always want to be doing something else: going on Tumblr, staring out the window, shopping, you name it. But I've trained myself that I write every day from 3-5, and so at that time if I am NOT working I am very much aware of it. Guilt is a great motivator! The books don't get written if you don't, as Anne Lamott says, put your butt in the chair. You have to show up. Period.
Sarah Dessen
I think whenever there's a trend, people think you should jump onto it. But I know what my strengths are, and I cannot imagine trying to do dystopian or werewolves or whatever. It would be so obvious I was out of my wheelhouse, and seem forced. As an author you have to know your strengths. I just write the stories that I want to read, and have admiration for everyone who can do so well what I cannot.
Sarah Dessen
The female character always comes first because every one of my books begins with the narrator. It's HER voice I hear, her face that starts to take shape in my head before I even get a single word down on the page. As far as the boys, I trust the same process: that they'll just show up, and show me who they are. I definitely have added characteristics to certain boys that I know would appeal to my narrator. You need that chemistry! But they each come on their own at first.
Sarah Dessen
I honestly just write the books that I want to read, and I guess that means one with a love relationship within it. But I have learned, over almost 20 years of publishing, that I should never say never to ANYTHING. So you just never know!
Sarah Dessen
I think I like writing about teens because there's just SO much material there, so much you can do. It's a time when everything is changing so quickly---your relationships with friends and family, your body, your very SELF---and that's really intriguing to me. Also, I remember high school so well. It's not hard to put myself back there. Eventually I will probably write about older characters, as a lot has happened to me since I was a teen. But as long as the stories keep coming and are fun to write, I can't see leaving high school altogether.
Sarah Dessen
When I was in ninth grade, the most popular boy in our school was killed in a motorcycle accident. It was the first time I'd known someone my age who passed away: one day he was there in Health class, and then he just...wasn't. It was a pivotal moment for me, and I always wanted to write about it. But I didn't know him that well, and his story was HIS story. So I began with a similar situation, and then created the book from there.
Sarah Dessen
Yes! I always am reading at least one book, if not two. I promised myself after college that I would read for fun again, and it's really important to me. To be honest, I don't read that much YA, as I don't want to know what everyone else is doing, especially as I'm writing my own book. But I love novels and non-fiction, and listen to audiobooks in my car.
Sarah Dessen
I don't have critique partners, but I really, really trust my editor. By the time she gets my manuscript, I've done all I can to it and have lost perspective. I am desperate for another point of view! (I don't let anyone read my books as I'm writing them, and I don't talk about them with anyone, either. That's a holdover from college, where I wrote my first novel and felt I had constant feedback that didn't help me.) If she makes a suggestion I REALLY don't agree with (which is rare) we talk it out and I've stood my ground on things that really matter to me. But more often than not, she's right. I trust her, which is crucial. All we both want is the best book possible.
Sarah Dessen
When I'm stuck, I go back to the last place where the novel was really flowing and see what came right after that. If I brought in a new character, or started a scene in a new place, I'll tweak it, and take that person out or change the setting. It's like when you're driving and you get lost. You back to the last place you knew your surroundings, and go right instead of left. Also, breaks help. And tears, sometimes. :)
Sarah Dessen
I just love Remy from This Lullaby. She's everything I wasn't at her age: confident, a leader, the kind of girl who can jimmy a locked door with a credit card. Writing her was SO fun. At first I thought I couldn't do it, because she was so unlike me, but then I realized it was just the greatest form of escape. That's what is great about writing. You get to be someone else part of the day.
Sarah Dessen
I actually don't keep track of words. I write at a computer, at the desk in my home office (although I have been known to write in parking lots/parks/the school pickup line if I am under crazy deadlines). For the LONGEST time I wrote every afternoon from 3-5, which was a holdover from when I first began writing novels after college. I had a morning job and an evening job, so it was the only time I had. Lately, though, I've been doing a couple of hours in the morning, as well. My goal is to write every single day. It has to be a habit, or I won't do it.
Sarah Dessen
I admire so many people who have done great trilogies and series, but usually, when I finish a book, I've done all I can with the characters and am ready to move on. I've brought back previous characters in small cameos in later books, but I think that's probably the closest I'll get. I like the standalone!
Sarah Dessen
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Sarah Dessen
The best advice I can give is to just get into the habit of writing. Train your brain that you write every day at a specific time, so if you are NOT writing, you're very aware of it and have to ask yourself why. Right now, I'm not working on anything, and this is when I normally would be. I was just sitting here watching YouTube videos and feeling VERY strange and restless, because I always am writing now. It's probably why I am answering questions! Breaks ARE important, don't get me wrong. Everyone needs fallow periods. But when you are working, be WORKING. It's what separates writers from people who want to write books.
Sarah Dessen
Thank you so much for the kind words! I wish I had the key to confidence. I still struggle with it SO much, especially this winter when I had to set a book aside I'd been working on for over a year because it wasn't working. For me, I think the fear is part of my process. I'm always going to be afraid I can't do it. Once I embraced that, it got a bit easier. Not easy. But easier.
Sarah Dessen
This a really good question, and I wish I had the perfect answer. It's really rare that a movie lives up to the book, because in reading, you've already created the whole thing on a screen in your mind. I find it's easier if I remind myself that no matter WHAT the movie is like, the book doesn't change. It's on your shelf, exactly the way it was before the movie. So seeing an interpretation of it just adds another shade, but doesn't totally change the color.
Sarah Dessen
I grew up going to school with the same people from kindergarten pretty much all the way up to high school. When you've known each other that long, it's hard to change, or feel like you can. I remember, often, on Sunday nights thinking, "Tomorrow I'm going to be totally different at school," and all the possiblities that contained. I coudn't do it. But I WISH I could have. And in fiction, I get to do a lot I wouldn't otherwise. That's one thing I love about it.
Sarah Dessen
Yes she is! For those who didn't know, I won a contest and got to the Veronica Mars premiere in LA with Kristen Bell. She was lovely and gracious and kind, EXACTLY how you think she would be. Her husband was also very nice! It was like a dream, the best kind.
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I was wondering if I could have your email bc I have some questions I would like to ask?
Feb 27, 2017 09:01AM · flag