You know, this is just a thought, but I think instead of searching for a cishet YA author to lionize in place of JKR, people should simply support trans authors.
I also still think more people my age should be reading Grown-Up Books and not YA but that's not a fight I want to get into today, let's just start by reading more trans people instead of cis ones who say they like us
The main difference between Grown-Up Books and YA is largely less shying away from saying The Bad Words and focusing on literally any period of life other than your mid teens.
In general the awkwardness with which they handle anything more intimate than hand-holding is pretty consistent, though
Apparently you can only write sex if you're writing erotica
In not-YA novels characters can have partners they already married & been with seven years
which, y'know, only gonna add depth
@thraeryn Also, non-YA books can still be about teenagers. That's still allowed.
@witchfynder_finder well if you’re going to be writing sex anyway you might as well commit to the bit
@jellyfish_link @witchfynder_finder the world honestly needs more sex entertainment
@witchfynder_finder that would require fixing the publishing industry to respect trans people as authors of something other than memoirs
@jellyfish_link I mean, yeah.
But I feel like a good first step is telling people about trans authors that are out there so they start Buying Their Books
"Read this white woman, read that white woman."
Where's the actual diversity in your recommendations? I don't want an author who tweets with the Good Hashtags, I want some actual trans authors.