Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Y.A Fiction

Every genre comes with a list of common mistakes that are easy to overlook when writing your young adult novel. 

Just because your novel is for a younger audience doesn't make it any easier to write. A young adult novel takes the same amount of time, dedication, and challenges that are seen in novels geared towards adults. 

When writing your young adult novel, try to avoid these common mistakes that may make or break your novel. 

Love at First Sight

I'm sure you can think back to your own high school experiences. Did you ever experience love at first sight? A love so powerful you would kill or die for this stranger that you haven't even learned their name of yet?

No? Well, teenagers, today aren't either.

 Your audience is possibly experiencing love in real-time for the very first time and even they will know that love, at first sight, is a thing that belongs on the big screen and even then the cliche is overdone and cringy at best and exasperating at worse. 

Your characters can have a crush, but a love strong enough that they will face the forces of darkness and possibly die for them? How about they at least go on a date or two first before pledging their souls to each other. 

Talking Down or Oversimplifying 

Teenagers aren't babies. You can use big words and complicated situations with them. Also, keep in mind that more than half of the readers who are buying these young adult novels are in fact adults. You can use themes that are used in adult fiction as well such as loss, grief, divorce, and loss of innocence. 

Teenagers and adults read fiction to escape life, but sometimes fiction also helps them cope with life. There are more important things in life than love triangles and who is going to be voted for prom queen. 

Writing to Trends

Just because at the moment vampires are all the rage doesn't mean that by the time you finish writing, editing, marketing, querying, or self-publishing your novel that they still will be.

Trends move fast. If current trends spark an idea within you then by all means take the inspiration when you can and run with it, but don't force yourself to write a novel just because it's currently popular. 

Preaching the Point 

You wouldn't do this in an adult novel, don't do it in a young adult novel. If friendships are more important than fame that's fine but don't push it down the throats of your readers. Both teenagers and adults are capable of picking up subtext and learning the meaning behind your story without your main character spelling it out in some cheesy closing line. 

Unrealistic Dialogue

If your novel is set in California it doesn't mean that every female has to talk like a Valley Girl. This goes for writing for young adults, not every conversation has to have text talk with like so many like omgs and like stuff like that. 

If I read a book that had character dialogue like that I might just throw it directly in the trash so that no other reader has to experience what I did. 

Also, teenage girls do not giggle as much as you might think. Please use this dialogue stage as little as possible or even better not at all. 

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Writing for a young adult ridership isn't much different than writing for a new adult or even adult. 

Keep in mind that teenagers are capable of understanding more than you might think. When you were a teenager you probably felt like you were ready to take on the world and today's teenagers are no different. They don't need to be treated like a child through literature, they want to find a home in your work that they can relate to. 

Best of luck and keep writing.

With love, 

B.K. xo

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