Young Adult Protagonist – Write on the World

Dear Mandy,

Why don’t readers like strong female leads? Why do they only want innocent and dumb female leads in their books?

From timid beginnings to unstoppable confidence—every strong female lead starts somewhere. Follow the journey from innocence to empowerment, both on the page and in life.

Dear Reader,

To properly answer this question, we first need to clarify which readers we’re talking about—because I can assure you, not all readers want innocent or naïve female leads. In fact, I’d argue that many middle-aged women (myself included) gravitate toward books firmly planted in the strong women serving up justice to bad men genre. Those female leads are confident, capable, and unapologetically badass—and that’s exactly what this reader wants.

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There’s something uniquely compelling—and uniquely tricky—about writing an adult novel through the eyes of a young adult protagonist. You want the story to resonate with adult readers, but the voice will inevitably feel youthful, immediate, and shaped by the character’s limited experience. That tension can be powerful, but it can also trip up both writers and readers if it isn’t handled thoughtfully.

It’s difficult to write an adult novel when telling the story from a young adult point of view.

Take Casey Dunn’s The Wind Witch Murders, for example. The novel is marketed as adult fiction, but its protagonist, Raven, is young, searching, and emotionally raw. The book is written in first-person point of view, which makes it even more difficult to escape the natural YA headspace. Every detail, every observation, every emotional beat is filtered through Raven’s young adult perspective.

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