This is a post in response to an article that I stumbled across written by another Australian teen, author Steph Bowe, which can be read at her blog and here , where she wrote about the do's and don't's of crafting teen voice. I, like Steph, am a teen and it wouldn't be presumptuous to assume that I know a thing or two about teen voice. Once you get two or three years behind or beyond my age, however, things should and will get a bit off. For example, I have a younger brother whose circle has begun to howl with cries of "Yeaaaaaaah boys!" in response to anything good happening - something I've never said, personally. He's two years younger than me. Now, very rarely do adults, writing YA, get the teen voice correct - sometimes, the odd parent with teenage kids will be able to pick up on the likes and the vocalised LOLs , but very rarely does this happen. They either pick something very outdated, or a couple years out of date - such as dope *facepalm*...