So I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the majority of people on Wattpad are teenagers or the content on here is written for teenagers. Plus, most books nowadays seem to be directed towards young adults, so here's a few things to do and not to do when writing YA fiction.
[1] What NOT to Do
[a] Acronyms and Slang
OMG, LOL, that's like, completely dank!!1!"
Please. Spare us.
We don't talk like that in real life. I get that you're trying to allow the reader to "relate" to your characters, but it'd driving us crazy and feels way too forced.
[b] The Troublemaker
Y'all know that stereotypical "bad boy" that seems to appear in every YA novel nowadays? Yeah, that one. It's pretty much overused and has been very cliché ever since the dawn of time.
Plus, that character is so unrealistic. If you're going to use that character, it's gotta have a goal in life besides hating every single person on the planet.
[c] Stereotypes
While I'm on the subject of stereotypes, I thought I'd add this one. It's usually the high school setting where the cheerleaders are preppy and dumb, the football players are complete jerks to everyone, and the nerd are bullied by practically everyone.
Just don't. No one fits the perfect stereotype and often reflects poor writing unless you have a specific purpose for doing so.
[d] Love at First Sight
Overused. Do I really need to explain it further? It just doesn't make sense, it's technically not even love at first sight, it's more of lust at first sight, seeing as though they haven't even talked yet, just looked at each other's physical features.
[e] The Bad to the Bone Female MC
You know the one. The one that wears leather and is borderline bullying people, but it's shed in a light that makes it seem good. Usually is known for taking a boxing / karate class back in fourth grade and somehow remembers all of it.
[2] What to Do
[a] Age
Make sure the age of your character(s) suit your audience. Kids will generally read through the eyes of someone a tad older, not younger.
[b] POV
Make sure your POV is right. We don't want to read about a middle aged person reflecting on their teenage / YA years. We want to read about what was happening in the moment, while it's happening.
[c] Voice and Language
make sure the voice and language of your story is correct. We need to be able to understand the text, as if we are thinking it ourselves. So now would be a good time for me to mention that teenagers do not have the wisdom that comes with age. We're still learning from our mistakes, so let them have mistakes.
[d] Raise Questions Instead of Teaching a Lesson
I mean, you could teach a lesson if it's done right. But don't revolve your story around your MC learning that lesson so that the reader will too. Readers hate learning lessons in fiction, especially YA novels. Instead, make the reader ask questions.
I hope this helped y'all a little bit! Just remember that as a writer, rules are meant to be broken, these are more like guidelines anyways.
YOU ARE READING
A Guide to Writing
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