Bestselling author Sara Shepard, known for her bestselling Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game book series, visited Miami Sunset Senior High School during November. Shepard has been going from school to school, promoting her newest book series, The Amateurs.
Shepard began writing stories during elementary school with her sister. They constantly would be working on creative projects such as creating storyboards and drawing cartoons. Her passion for writing follows her till this day.
“I always had a big imagination and I like to make everything into a story,” she said. “Even when I wasn’t writing books for companies, I was always writing.”
Shepard had oversome many obstacles before making it as an author. She once worked for Time magazine. “I had always enjoyed writing fiction, but it was hard for me to write articles, especially when it came to fact checking. I wasn’t good at it, I would make things up and that didn’t work out for me.”
Because she had been so driven and was determined to get her writing out there, she took up ghost writing. The opportunities for ghost writing usually come in huge book series, therefore, authors hire “ghost writers” to write for their series. However, the ghost writers don’t get credited.
“It’s actually a funny story” Shepard said. “I crashed a Christmas party for the company I ended up working for; not that I suggest anyone should do that, but I guess that really caught their attention.”
Shepard ended up being a ghost writer for serval book series: Samurai Girl, Blackwell’s Island, The Secret Apartment, and The It Girl. The It Girl was the book series that made Shepard realize her love for writing teen fiction novels. By the time, she finished writing for The It Girl, her company asked her if she wanted to write her own book series, which led her to write her most famous book series, Pretty Little Liars.
Shepard was working on her seventh book of the series when ABC Family called her up to tell her they had created a pilot for her book, Pretty Little Liars.
“I never expected Pretty Little Liars to go mainstream. I knew people would read the series but not to this extreme. It feels amazing knowing so many people enjoyed my series and watch the show as well,” Shepard said.
Pretty Little Liars is about four girls, who were dealing with the aftermath of the mysterious disappearance of their friend, Alison DiLaurentis.
“I knew I wanted to write mysteries and the big thing at the time was texting and I liked the idea of an anonymous person sending messages to people through the newest digital way,” Shepard explained.
Shepard’s newest book series, The Amateurs, contains the mysterious and thrilling aspects that Shepard always has in her novels.
“It’s about four teenagers that come together to solve an unclosed case about Helena Kelly, one of the teenagers’ younger sister. I got the inspiration from listening to the Serial Podcast, and the idea of teenagers solving a crime case that the law enforcement couldn’t struck me.”
Shepard has come a long way to get to where she is today. She demonstrated that, if you push yourself and make the right connections you can accomplish your dreams.
“Not everyone is going to like your work; I’ve had a couple of my college professors tell me that my work was horrible and that I should give up writing, but that never stopped me. Sometimes, it’s a matter of having thick skin and to continue on with what you wish to accomplish.”
