Lady Danielle

For authors:

Greetings. So… you want to be an author for the Young Adult genre, aye? You’re feeling pretty proud of yourself for that uncorrected copy you have in your hands, huh? You’re feeling triumphant of your success in finishing it – all the sweat, the headaches, and the staying up for 24 hours straight trying to perfect your characters as well as your storyline? Well, I’m here to spoil it all for you because I’ve some DO’s, DON’Ts, and AVOIDs for writing YA literature. I’m sorry to wipe the smile from your face; if you followed all of this you have nothing to worry about (same for the authors in the process of writing their debut novel). It’s a small list, it’s not much....

DON’T create the clichéd “my best friend is a gorgeous slut and I’m the plain boring girl no one pays attention to” concept.

DON’T write a novel that’s either an insta-love or a love triangle or both. Statistics show that 70% of YA authors use this as a way to “lure” us readers into their "oh so sexy" world; however, it's been done, and it's not our cup of tea.

DO write a delicious hot romance that's wholly original and not an insta-love/love triangle.

DO craft well-rounded; funny characters that would be memorable. Sass is acceptable -- ENDURABLE sass.

DON'T make your protagonist's lover an abusive prick. This is an extremely terrifying situation that I don't take lightly. I will not brush it off because he's sexy and later on I might grow to love him. That's a terrible risk you're taking. It's not something I (and many other readers) find enjoyable. It's annoying.

Click the view spoiler to see what I'm talking about, it's quite a long passage so I'm going to hide it:

This passage continues for another page and a half, Michael's trying to control himself as he struggle for his words. He's quick to lose his temper, he invaded her space and came too close to her -- close enough to strangle her. I did not like that at all. It was over something so small and he flipped batshit. What I also cannot fathom was the author's incessant description of his sexiness whilst this was happening (i.e. description of his oh-so-beautiful eyes, amazingly toned arms, etc.) and Emerson, the protagonist, wondering what it be like to be in his arms if he wasn't angry.

How thick can this bitch get? He lost his temper over the smallest thing, why are you so interested in this lunatic? Please, for the love of all Greek gods, DON’T use phrases like this when talking about a guy your female protagonist is interested in (even though she’s already “in love” with another): “Kaleb was so pretty I was jealous.” That’s an official virtual slap across the face.

AVOID writing passages you think are funny... because the majority of the time they won’t be:

E.g. “Hey, bro, do you think you can put Shorty back on her chain?" I stepped forward with my hands on my hips, only slightly intimidated to find Kaleb almost eye level with me when he was seated and I was standing. "First of all, no one is the boss of me but me. Secondly, if you ever reference my 'chain' again, I will kick your ass." I jabbed him hard in the chest with my finger. Possibly breaking it. "And thirdly, don't call me Shorty." Kaleb sat silently for a second, his eyes wide as he looked at Michael. "Where did you get her? Can you get me one?"

AVOID writing a passage about your protagonist wanting to slap a girl for being gorgeous and living in the same “house” as the boy she’s “in love with”:

“I had a dilemma. I could find absolutely no good reason to slap the girl standing in the kitchen door. And I really wanted one.”

But then write a chapter later she’s coming on to the guy she’s “in love with”’s best friend. It’s tacky and I’ll hate you.

AVOID cheesy lines like this:

“My heart stumbled a little, but the tenderness in his voice kept me from falling.”

Last, but certainly never least, don’t write a line about being in love with a guy she doesn’t know shit about like this:

“If he wasn't already holding my heart in the palm of his hand, I would have taken it out and given it to him right then.”

Now that the DO’s, DON’Ts, and AVOIDs have been written, make sure you make those changes before sending it in to publishing companies. If you had some of these DON'Ts and/or AVOIDs in your book but it's already been sent out... how unfortunate.