Start with the Inner Weather, Not the Trend
Actual teens don’t speak in hashtags or perfectly timed catchphrases. They react from emotion first. Their voices snap, soften, or stall based on what they’re trying to protect.
- Why it worksEmotion shapes rhythm. In The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas lets Starr’s voice contract under pressure and expand when she’s safe. The change is natural because it follows Starr’s inner weather rather than a caricature of “teen voice.”
- How to do itTie the narration to the character’s emotional temperature. Laurie Halse Anderson does this masterfully in Speak, where Melinda’s voice fragments when she goes quiet inside herself, then steadies as she regains agency.
Do
Let emotion steer the voice.
Avoid
Relying on slang to do the work.
From My Work
In the Death of Me, when Carla attacks her in choir, Katie fires back from embarrassment and anger, not performative attitude:
My jaw dropped… It was the rudest, most insensitive thing anyone had ever said. “I’d rather be an outcast than force feed my fake personality to people to make friends!”
The voice tightens because Katie is trying not to cry.
Let Humor Come from Defense, Not Performance
Teens often joke to survive a moment, not perform one.
- Why it worksDefensive humor carries emotion beneath it. In Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell uses awkward jokes to reveal vulnerability—humor as shield, not spotlight.
- How to do itAsk what the character gains from the joke: distance, distraction, or control. In All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven lets Finch’s humor crack open in moments where he’s barely holding himself together.
Do
Let the joke expose the bruise beneath it.
Avoid
Comedy with no emotional function.
From My Work
In the Death of Me, Katie laughs when the truth feels too dangerous to face:
I laughed so hard I fell against the desk… It was so absurd!
It isn’t humor for fun; it’s relief hitting her system too fast to control.
Use Specificity They Don’t Realize They’re Revealing
Teens rarely name their identities outright. They reveal them through what they notice.
- Why it worksIn Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Sáenz lets Ari’s attention drift toward silence, distance, and longing. He never declares who he is—the reader pieces it together through what he lingers on.
- How to do itChoose details only this character would observe. In Looking for Alaska, John Green uses Pudge’s fixation on last words to expose longing, intellect, and loneliness without a single line of self-definition.
Do
Reveal personality through attention.
Avoid
Reveal personality through attention.
From My Work
In the Death of Me, Katie shows care through tiny, unintentional details when she and Sherry share a morning together:
I pointed to a blue belly skittering into the brush… Sherry and I had once filmed a movie there. The lacy fragments of sunshine glinted off the water’s surface…
She notices every piece of nostalgia, because Sherry, her best friend, is her anchor.
Let Silence Speak
Voice isn’t only what a character says. It’s what they avoid.
- Why it worksIn We Were Liars, E. Lockhart turns omission into tension. What Cadence won’t say becomes the emotional spine of the story.
- How to do itTrack what your character refuses to confront. Let the silence create pressure. In I’ll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson uses sibling silence as narrative torque—the unsaid drives the story more than the said.
Do
Make avoidance part of the voice.
Avoid
Forcing clarity too early.
From My Work
In the Death of Me, Katie runs from vulnerability every time someone tries to reach her:
“Just tell me.”
“There’s too much to tell. It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
Her avoidance is a language of its own.
Respect Their Logic, Even When It’s Wild
Teens make choices that seem irrational from the outside but make perfect sense within their emotional framework.
- Why it worksIn Paper Towns, John Green lets Q chase Margo across the country based on a handful of clues. The logic isn’t adult logic—it’s teen logic built from longing, myth, and urgency.
- How to do itIdentify what they value most—friendship, belonging, self-worth—and let that value override reason. Nic Stone showcases this in Dear Martin, where Justyce’s decisions reflect the pressures shaping him rather than tidy moral equations.
Do
Honor the internal rules your teen lives by.
Avoid
Mocking or flattening their reasoning.
From My Work
In the Death of Me, Katie’s decisions follow emotional truth, not logic:
“Nothing I say to you will matter when I’m gone.”
Her fear of disappearing shapes her choices long before she names it.
Final Thoughts
Authentic YA voices don’t come from slang or stereotype—they come from emotional truth.
When we recognize what a teen is trying to hide, what they fear losing, and what they refuse to say out loud, their voice becomes real. And once we hear them clearly, readers follow anywhere.
Extras
- Read about The Death of Me
- Sign up for the newsletter to get weekly tips
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
- Paper Towns by John Green
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone