"Writing in the New Adult Genre"
The funny thing about my writing career
at the moment is I’m 22—I’m in the same bracket as that for the New Adult
genre. I wrote my first manuscript back when I was a teenager and have been
hammering away since then. But something magical happened in the latter half of
2012 that changed me.
New Adult was born into a wide audience,
and I fell in love with it. My stories were great and I loved them beforehand
but this new genre gave me an idea, which turned into Drowning in You. I
didn’t want my characters to be young, immature and fluffy as is expected in
some YA novels. But they weren’t career-driven, or motherly or such like in
some Adult novels.
They were adults who still felt like
teens.
I love this genre for many reasons but
the main one is that I can do so much to these characters. They’re old enough
to cope better with death than a 15- or 16-year old is. They can be as open to
sex as they please. They can drink freely. They are starting their adult lives
and trying to find direction.
This leaves tonnes of room for failure.
Part of the best fiction is made up of confused, silly or unfortunate
characters. They are still learning about life, love and death. About where
they fit in this world.
My favourite subjects in New Adult
fiction are:
relationships;
love;
college;
death;
grief;
forgiveness;
and
self-discovery
(who am I?).
This is what made me excited to write Drowning
in You. When the Young Adult wave started in the 2000s, we loved reading
stories that brought us back to being 16.
But when we finish school and move on in
the world and really discover the beauty and harshness of being
dependent, there’s something thrilling about reading books about characters in
this stage of their lives. There’s just so much more depth to experience in the
characters
The media says New Adult is only about
sex. Sorry, that’s erotica. I wrote Drowning in You about two people
finding themselves in their own lives, but together as one, falling in love.
***
Thanks for having me!
About Drowning in You
AUTHOR BIO
About Drowning in You
Secretly crushing
Crushed by a tragedy
Charlee May’s been crushing on Dexter Hollingworth since she was fifteen. Five years later, a horrific skiing disaster at Mason’s Ski Lift Resort leaves her millionaire dad critically injured and her mom dead at the hands of Dexter operating the lifts. Charlee is suddenly the sole caretaker for her little brother while their world falls apart.
Dexter couldn’t be more different from Charlee. He’s tattooed, avoids exclusive relationships and his Dad has a fair share of illegal dealings. With Dexter’s reputation, almost everyone believes he planned the Mason’s skiing disaster.
And after all these years he’s still crushing on Charlee May, the girl who’s too good for him.
When this cruel twist of fate ties Charlee’s family and Dexter’s reputation together, Charlee and Dexter wonder if their feelings are reciprocated, while Dexter discovers his dad is trying to steal the May’s millionaire fortune.
But like an addiction, one look, one touch, one taste—they’re hooked no matter the consequences.
Disclaimer: Recommended for mature readers due to sexual content and crude language.
AUTHOR BIO
Rebecca Berto is the author or the dark contemporary/literary novella, PRECISE and the upcoming new adult contemporary romance novel, DROWNING IN YOU. She is also a freelance editor.
She writes stories that are a bit sexy, and straddle the line between Literary and Tear Your Heart Out. She gets a thrill when her readers are emotional reading her stories, and gets even more of a kick when they tell her so. She’s strangely imaginative, spends too much time on her computer, and is certifiably crazy when she works on her fiction.
Rebecca Berto lives in Melbourne, Australia with her boyfriend and their doggy.
TOUR-WIDE GIVEAWAY
5 eBook copies (open internationally)
TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:
You can find the rest of the tour schedule here: Xpresso Blog Tours - Drowning In You Blog Tour!
Great post, Rebecca, and thank you for stopping by!
What do you think?
As a reader, what does New Adult open up for you?
And if you're a writer, is New Adult something you're interested in exploring?
