The New Adult Genre
New Adult. Just a few years ago, you would have said those two words and everyone would have gone, "huh?" But now you can't drop by twitter, or read a book blog without seeing it everywhere. Even the mainstream media has picked up on it. We hear it talked and speculated about, but what is it?
Here are a few
things New Adult is not: Erotica, sexed up Young Adult, or smut.
New Adult is a
category. You can have a book in any genre that also fits that category. You
can have New Adult Contemporary Romance, which is what I write. You can also
have New Adult Fantasy, Dystopian, Sci fi. New Adult literature encompasses
that tricky age between youth and adulthood. It's a middle ground for ages
17-26(ish). Those ages can change depending on the location of the story. In
some countries, kids go to college at younger ages, so they would be in the New
Adult age range sooner than in the United States. It's more about the stage of
life than your age.
New Adult is that
first time you are really out on your own. You're away from your parents and
allowed to make adult decisions that have adult consequences and usually,
you're not equipped to deal with them. Add in some of the angst of adolescence
and you have a perfect storm for writing fiction.
For me, my
college years were some of the best of my life. It was like a sleepover every
night. We could do what we wanted and our parents would never find out (unless
we got arrested, of course). We were responsible for ourselves, and that was an
intoxicating feeling.
I'd been wanting,
ever since I decided to make writing books my career, to write a story that
would recapture those feelings I had in college. But I had only written young
adult paranormal books up until that point and I thought contemporary was out
of my wheelhouse. I couldn't imagine writing a story where I couldn't just make
someone a vampire out of the blue to get myself out of a situation. I'd tried
to write a contemporary young adult novel, but gave up because it was just a
bunch of angst-ing and nothing happened. Then I had an idea one night last
June, and I couldn't get it out of my head. I ended up turning on the light and
filling notebook pages with the start of what would become My Favorite Mistake.
From that point on, it was like I'd opened the flood gates and at least once a
week, sometimes more, I get an idea for a New Adult title.
There is so much
freedom, for me as a writer, with New Adult. I don't' have to worry about if my
characters are cursing too much, or that the sexiness is going too far. I can
throw them into insane situations and watch them try and dig themselves out of
it. I can put them through things that a younger teen would never be able to
reasonably handle. It's a writer's dream, and I don't see myself running out of
ideas anytime soon.
AUTHOR BIO
Chelsea M. CameronChelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times and USA Today Best-Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.
About the Books:
Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron (Deeper We Fall #1)
Genre: New Adult ContemporaryPublication date: January 24th 2013Synopsis:Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie's face.Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves "To Kill a Mockingbird" as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can't help but listen.The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie's discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.Links:Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Faster We Burn by Chelsea M. Cameron (Deeper We Fall #2)
Genre: New Adult ContemporaryPublication date: April 20th, 2013SynopsisThe last thing Katie Hallman needs is another guy in her life, but Stryker Grant is there anyway. What starts out as just an escape from her previous relationship disaster soon turns into something more. Stryker gets under her skin the way no one has before, and soon she realizes she can't shake him, even if she wanted to. But is Katie ready to trust her already-battered heart to the guy who could shatter it into a million pieces?Links:Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
GIVEAWAYS!
Individual Tour Giveaway:
- 1 Winner will get both ebooks in the series, Deeper We Fall and Faster We Burn
- International
- Ends May 22nd at 11:59 PM (MST)
- Winner will be chosen with Rafflecopter and will be contacted via email
TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:
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Tour Grand Prize:
A Kindle Paperwhite OR a Nook Simple Touch Glowlight (INTL)
TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:
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Good luck in the giveaways! And what an awesome guest post! :D
What did you think of it?
What do you think of the New Adult genre?
I've been reading a lot of NA books lately and I liked them, so I've been talking about them on twitter and on my blog. It's really hard for me to explain what NA really is , and I think that Chelsea explained it wonderfully.
ReplyDelete- Ellie at The Selkie Reads Stories
Totally agree with Chelsea's explanation :) I0ve been reading a lot of New Adult lately and I'm pretty obsessed with some books that give a more mature vision of contemporary romance. :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I like the separation of New Adult genre. Having a teenager who I happen to be very open with in the house doesn't mean I want her reading every book out there and this genre helps separate the books I am fine with her reading and those I would rather her wait to read for just a little while longer.
ReplyDeleteI have never read a New Adult book so it's great to be introduced to new ones. And to finally understand what NA actually means. Thanks for this!
ReplyDelete