DeAndra Davis
BIO
DeAndra Davis (she/her), a full-time university instructor, writes young adult, middle grade, and adult literary, contemporary, horror, and fantasy books. DeAndra’s primary focus when writing is intersectionality and exploring disability, blackness, and all facets of neurodiversity and mental health. She currently resides in South Florida, with her partner, five children, and two dogs. She is represented by Jenissa Graham at Bookends Literary Agency. Her debut, ALL THE NOISE AT ONCE, a contemporary YA, will release April 15 2025 with Atheneum (Simon & Schuster) with a, currently untitled, contemporary YA to follow in 2026. She is also a contributor in the queer, TTRPG-themed anthology THIS IS HOW WE ROLL (Page Street) releasing fall 2025.
With a Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction), DeAndra is excited to utilize her experience with craft and constant analysis of literature with a mentee to assist them in improving their manuscript. DeAndra is open to Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult fantasy, horror, thriller, and all manner of contemporary and literary stories. Give her your weird, your unexpected, your main characters behaving badly, your relationships that are a mess. She wants to see vengeance and unreliable narrators. She wants to experience morally gray characters and feel conflicted about who to root for. DeAndra is especially committed to lifting all marginalized voices, especially those of BIPOC and the neurodiverse.
MSWL
WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR
GENRES:
Young adult, Adult, and Middle Grade
Contemporary/Literary: Give me your everyday problems blown up into big problems; I’m not afraid of what others would call “issue books” so give them to me! Give me your school bullies, your college dropouts, your family falling apart. I would really love to see full, truthful representation of disability, neurodiversity, and mental health on the page as well. Talk to me about the way it intersects with your characters' other identities. Show me how it changes the way your characters move through life. Give me the unexpected too! I love to see a new spin on a familiar premise.
For adult especially, I would love to see more middle aged stories! I see so many early to mid twenties figuring their lives out for the first time. Give me the divorced 40-year-old finding themself in life without a partner for the first time. Give me mid-life crisis, burn all their relationships down and pick up the pieces (or don’t) after. I would really love to see more in this arena.
Fantasy: contemporary or secondary-world, I’m good with either; Romantasy is great too, but make me swoon or pine. I’m okay with spicy books too (depending on age range). I really want to fall in love with a world as much as I fall in love (or hate) with a character. And I’m definitely NOT afraid for you to give me a character that I love to hate.
For middle grade especially, I’d love to see more found family in fantasy. Something about that really gets me!
Horror: give it all to me, your body horror, psychological horror, the supernatural. Give me the most sinister vibes and the creepiest feels. I want atmosphere and setting. I want to have nightmares or feelings of foreboding long after. Bonus points for diversity or disability/neurodiversity here as well!
Thriller: I love a good twist! I want to see propulsive pacing and gripping plot! I’m always up for a bit of genre-bending as well and even if you don’t see something specifically here, who knows! Send it to me anyway. I’m always happy to be surprised!
IN GENERAL, I’D LOVE TO SEE:
BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, or ND characters (even better if they have more than
one marginalization)
Messy sibling relationships/complex sibling relationships
Interesting or unique family dynamics
High-stakes (even if those are high internal stakes)
College stories!
Middle-aged characters figuring stuff out
Messy protagonists, I don’t need perfection, I need real!
Detailed and cinematic world building
Side characters that matter, give them life and make them not leave my minds
Found family
Revenge. All the revenge!
Villain as the main character
Classic tropes turned on their head
Twisty stories that keep me guessing
Well-developed and believable romance (if it’s in there) that makes me swoon
Some books to get to know me:
The Hunger Games
Noor
Who Fears Death
Parable of the Sower
The Fifth Season
Beloved
The Weight of Blood
The Hate U Give
Dear, Martin
Legendborn
The Luis Ortega Survival Club
So Let Them Burn
Binti
Wahala
The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels
Alex Wise vs. The End of the World
Accidental Demons
WHAT I’M NOT LOOKING FOR:
Flat or one-note characters
Too sweet main characters
Horror without atmosphere or foreboding
On the page SA (it’s important but it just isn’t for me)
Military or police glorification or worship stories
Dubious consent
Unrealistic consequences
I am not the best for someone who is looking to self-publish, as I don’t know enough
about the process to be helpful.