Bruce Cameron

Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010.

In order to write a book about teenage girls (“8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter,” Workman, 2001), I had to get inside their minds, which was a bit like Queen Latifah trying to squeeze into a size 4. My basic approach was to imagine what it would be like to be angry at everything, unwilling to listen to anybody, fascinated by boys my father didn’t approve of and wearing so much mascara my eyelids stuck together.

My daughters loudly and vehemently hated the idea that I was writing about them, indicating they would...