Author Sara Shepard: The Pretty Little Liars Finale Is "Going to Blow Peoples' Minds"

Image Source: Everett Collection

To this day, author Sara Shepard has written close to 20 Pretty Little Liars novels. And now, over a decade after the release of the first book and nearly six years after the series premiere of the TV adaptation, the last chapter of our favorite Rosewood gang is suddenly so close. In 2017, the final 10 episodes of season seven will air. In the meantime, we've watched with devastation as the show's stars cried through a final table read, exchanged heartfelt social media love letters, and even written personal heartfelt goodbyes. With emotions running so high, we hopped on the phone with Sara Shepard to go back to where it all started.

POPSUGAR: Do you remember the moment the idea hit you? You said you'd been interested in stalkers, but did you have this epiphany moment that was like, "this is what I'm going to write"?

Sara Shepard: I mean, I don't know if it came together like that. I know there was the stalker idea, and also I wrote the book in 2005, which is so long ago now. Texting wasn't a thing. It was kind of a thing, but was just becoming popular. Social media was hardly out there — there was MySpace and there was this pretty awful site called Friendster, but there was nothing else. But I loved the idea of phones and instant message being this new way of watching people. So it kind of developed from there, but I would say all of the books that I've worked on, they've all sort of been gradual developments. I wish I could come up with a whole book idea from a dream or something like that, but it's always been a gradual thing.

PS: How have you had to adjust this terrifying subject as texting and social media has gotten more prevalent?

SS: That's a good question, because as cyberbullying has grown and become more of a thing on Facebook, I started to become very aware of what "A" was. I was hoping people weren't getting ideas from "A" to do terrible things to their friends or their ex-friends, so I feel like a lot of my later Pretty Little Liars . . . I wrote warnings in the back. I said, "Please, this is just for entertainment, please do not do this to your friends." Respect and love, all that. It is a fine line, and you don't want to give anybody ideas, although I have had readers say that they have been bullied and reading the book helped, because here's another character, somebody else going through it. In a strange way, I think it's helped some people, so that's a nice side effect.

Image Source: Sara Shepard

PS: It's been so many years since the show started. What does it feel like now that it's coming to an end? It must be such a crazy experience for you.

SS: Yeah, it's sad! But I think it's great, because they're ending on their terms. I hate when a show goes off the air in the middle of a story. So they're going to be able to tie it up. I was on set last week, actually for their last day of taping. A few people said the finale is going to be awesome, it's like really crazy, it's going to blow peoples' minds. But I saw all of the actors and so many of the writers when I was there, because it was their last day, and everybody got together, and everybody was so sad. They're family and then they were breaking apart.

PS: How much do you know about the end of the series?

SS: I don't! I actually don't. I watch the show like everybody else watches the show. I will just watch it on Tuesday night, and I will live-tweet, and I will be amazed like everybody else is amazed, or confused, or whatever. I will write honest comments about what's going on here. I have never really known.

PS: Do you have any theories for "A.D." personally? What are you thinking going into the final season?

SS: I don't have any idea, but I have heard some crazy theories. I think I need to watch the beginning of season seven again to refresh my memory . . . I want to really have my theories ready and reach out to fans, so I'm probably going to have to binge-watch some episodes. But at this point, I'm totally confused.

PS: If you had one absolutely burning question that you need answered by the series finale, what would it be?

SS: I want to see what happens with some of these couples. I mean I'm sure that's going to be tied up, but there's this whole fanbase out there with Emily and Alison, the Emison fans, and I just hope that they can be satisfied. So that's not like a question, that's more of a desire. But I would love to see that by the end of the series.

PS: I'd love to see some sort of happy ending, for sure. After all this, and after The Amateurs, what's on the horizon for you?

SS: Well, I have two more books for The Amateurs, and I'm working on the second right now. I did find out that The Amateurs has been optioned for TV, so that's fun . . . what's next? I hope to write more fun mysteries that people like.

The final season of season of Pretty Little Liars airs in 2017, and Sara Shepard's new book, The Amateurs, is available now.