Ann Brashares

To write a story, I think you really have to open yourself up to the world.

As much as I'm drawn to writing about teenage girls, I like the idea of having the freedom to branch out and write about different ages, for different ages.

I look back on my 20s. It's supposed to be the prime of your life, the most vital, the most beautiful. But you're making your critical decisions and sometimes your most critical mistakes.

The distinction has blurred between young adult and adult books. Some of the teen books have become more sophisticated.

My household is, in a nice way, very busy.

I don't have the life of a famous person. But I do feel like I've been able to connect with a lot of people.

It's so much easier to have no expectations than to have big ones.

Developing characters is a strange thing. In the beginning they are abstract and I wonder how to move on from there.

A tree is such a rich metaphor in a million beautiful ways. You can consider a tree growing and consider its connectedness to all things above and under the ground.

I agree that a love of reading is a great gift for a parent to pass on to his or her child.

When I turned fifteen, I remember my father gave me a credit card which I was allowed to use for two things: emergencies and books.

Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.

As a writer, you live in such isolation. It's hard to imagine your book has a life beyond you.