Chaim Potok, born in New York City in 1929, began writing fiction at the age of sixteen. Since then, he has written essays, plays, short stories, articles, children's books, and novels—including his most famous work, the novel The Chosen. Below, Potok answers some questions about this story and about his work.

Zebra is such an intriguing character. How did you create him?

When I was nine or ten years old, I suffered a serious eye injury in a snowball fight. Months later, near the end of the spring term, a man suddenly appeared in my school and offered to teach drawing during the summer to anyone interested. I took his class and discovered that I could draw and paint. These two elements—the injury and the man—came together in "Zebra" and were brought up to the present, because I needed to add a third element—Vietnam—to the story. I should add that, like Zebra, I was a good runner. For the sake of the story, I gave Zebra a hand injury to connect him to drawing and to the wound suffered by John Wilson in Vietnam.

How did you decide to incorporate John Wilson into this story?

John Wilson was in the story from the start. He is modeled, in part, after a very good friend of mine, who was a major with Special Forces (Green Berets) in Vietnam.

When you begin writing a story or novel, what comes first—the plot or the characters?

I always begin with characters. People are, for me, the heart of any story I write. I must know my characters, their conflicts, their hopes, dreams, angers, frustrations, loves, hates. I must see them, hear them. Often I dream about them, sense them near me. It is only when I feel I truly know a character, or characters, that I begin to structure a story. The point to the plot is to deepen my understanding of the character through action, testing, conflict, the need to interact with others, to make choices, to taste success or failure.

What besides writing do you enjoy doing? How does your life influence what you write?

I love being with my family. I enjoy the company of my friends. I travel. Everything I see and hear influences my writing. How can it be otherwise? Writers are like giant receptacles, scooping up everything on the way to their desks.

What do you hope young people will gain from reading your work?

First, I hope they will read "Zebra" as a good story, enjoying it for the sheer pleasure of its storytelling. Then, I would want them to recognize that it is more than an entertainment, that there are serious issues in it that touch their lives. Finally, I would like to believe that there is enough in the story for it to linger in memory as an experience that most young people go through on the journey to adulthood: not letting yourself be broken by the really difficult moments in life, but getting through them and growing up.