Characters, small events are focus of Utah author

To get your first young-adult novel published by Boston's prestigious Little Brown is a feather in the literary cap — just ask Sara Zarr.

Because she's just 36 years old, it also sounds like the Salt Lake writer started at the top. But not exactly. It's been a dozen years since Zarr began her publishing quest.

Born in Cleveland and raised in San Francisco, she earned a degree in communications from San Francisco State. She says her first book, about a girl and her guitar, was too sad to receive much attention.

Zarr was smart enough to get an agent, but she was shy about bugging him.

By the time she and her husband had moved to the Avenues in Salt Lake City, she had written four books, dismissed her agent and learned a ton about the world of publishing.

"I've been in Salt Lake for seven years and I really love it," Zarr said during an interview in the Deseret Morning News offices. "I have no desire to go back to San Francisco."

Her golden manuscript — number four — turned out to be "Story of a Girl," set in Pacifica, a bedroom community of San Francisco.

The story centers on Deanna Lambert, a 13-year-old girl whose life is turned upside down after her father finds her in the back seat of a car in a sexual encounter with 17-year-old Tommy. Not only is she treated badly by her father, but she gets a reputation in school as being easy. The story centers on how Deanna turns her life around despite seemingly overwhelming odds.

When Zarr finished the book in 2005, she submitted it to the Utah Arts Council competition and "Story of a Girl" was selected as the best young-adult novel of 2005. "I have to say that doors don't fly open at the sound of state arts-council prizes, but it was great to have something to put in a query letter. It was also a psychological boost. And I found a new agent after that. By May of 2005, he got me a two-book contract with Little Brown."

Zarr and her agent revised the manuscript together before he sent it out to publishers.

Her second book with Little Brown will be set in Salt Lake City and is about a boy and girl who were elementary-school sweethearts. He moves away and returns in their high school years, and they try to pick up their relationship. "It's about the power of shared experiences. I'm not really a plot writer — I'm more interested in the characters and sort of small events that propel the story forward."