But that's not what New Adult is right now. That's what the article writer hopes it'll turn into eventually. All the stories she mentioned were film.
New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak Or Valued Subgenre?
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But that's not what New Adult is right now. That's what the article writer hopes it'll turn into eventually. All the stories she mentioned were film.
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If only.
I really think it's just going to turn into the newest incarnation of chick-lit or morph into college student erotica. That's what publishers seem to be going for anyway.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
Well, somebody ought to start writing the books that'll make New Adult more than just the new chick-lit.
The group blog New Adult Alley also has thier own take on what NA is, and a Recommended Reads section that's far more varied than just 'erotica for college students'.
I find it quite disheartening that writers had their own ideas for what NA fiction could be, and publishers seem to be twisting the term into nothing more than a new erotica bracket. It must be difficult for all the NA writers who're now having to rethink whether they can keep using that term.
I find it quite disheartening that writers had their own ideas for what NA fiction could be, and publishers seem to be twisting the term into nothing more than a new erotica bracket. It must be difficult for all the NA writers who're now having to rethink whether they can keep using that term.
Agreed. I actually had a speculative that was YA but the subject gave me issues at YA imprints and when someone suggested I make it 'adult' I couldn't imagine them any older than college aged.
This was before I'd really heard the term though. I think I could see it fitting in with the widely circulated authors definition of the term, but not at all the publisher's definition. Problem, of course, since it's the publishers I'd need to pick it up.
So what I'm saying is: if they wrote it, would it get grouped as NA?
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I really don't agree with 90% of their list. Most of those books, when chick-lit existed, would have been chicklit, sans the occasional Zusak book. And there's nothing wrong with that. Chick-lit used to be more than shopping and giggling and men--Melissa Bank is a fabulous example.
I just don't see a need to re-title a "dead" genre under the guise of creating a category and injecting unneeded vigor into it. Call it college-fic if you really want to give it a rebirth. Make it a genre under AF. Or just continue calling it YA or AF (which is what most of it is).
None of those books seem to follow their guidelines, either--moving into the world of Adulthood. I've read quite a few of them and they don't address #1) Realizing you've got to get a job, #2 Realizing you've got to pay rent, #3 Mom and Dad not lending you money, #4 Getting a car on your own with non-existent credit, #5 Dropping out of college, #6 Weed, #7 Wondering if you've got to get your own insurance, #8 Looking at your somewhat older peers getting married and having kids and thanking God that's not you.
I'd like some books like those. Those are the issues I see people my age facing. For that ^ I'd excuse creating a new category. The books they list still deal with YA drama that "new adults" don't really worry about anymore. And if they do, their peers are laughing at them for still dealing with petty high school shit.
Movies, btw, do not have categories. They have ratings and genres. There's no such thing as a YA movie or a MG movie. I don't even know how any movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt fits into NA. (500) Days and 50/50 are an indie romcom and a brodramcom respectively. He was 28 when the first movie was filmed--his character's age. Deschanel was 29. It'd make just as much sense to list American Pie #__ and any random Judd Apatow-esque movie.
Liosse de Velishaf
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Unfortunately, I agree with you about the books on that list. None of them are really New Adult by any definition I have seen. The Wheel of Time? Really?
I still think there could be more to the age bracket then the erotica/romance that seems to be getting published under the name.
And there are better books that could be shoehorned onto their list. Especially in the speculative fiction genres. Like The Fionavar Tapestry. Actual kids in college who during the real world scenes have real world problems that might fit the category. You might throw Lev Grossman's The Magicians in there. Same reasons.
Chick-lit erotica, you mean.
I'm still really annoyed by the monotony of NA. most of it is either contemporary romance or Twilight for College Students. I would like to see more fantasy/sci fi/thrillers.
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When fantasy/sci fi/thrillers start overpowering PNR and luke-warm dystopians in YA, I think you'll get your wish. Until then, watch it become a one note category. That's all publishers seem to want, especially with the advent of Flirt, from Random House.
It seems like the title of the imprint is repelling everything but contemporary romance. They're really treating it as a genre and not as a category.
Perhaps to get the ball rolling we could ask Mac to create a separate sub-forum for it? There are certainly enough of us "New Adults" (god, I hate that term) here.
Agreed. Even in this economy, I have yet to read a book about someone struggling to find a job. Think about all the conflict you could get in that kind of story: having to re-negotiate your dreams/ideals, having to deal with family and financial pressure, etc. In YA, you see so many books where teenagers "put on a false face" to become more popular, but you never see the NA book where characters attempt to re-invent themselves to look better for employers.
I absolutely consider The Magicians as NA -- in fact, I think it embodies "New Adult" more than most of the books on that list. The whole book is about disillusionment, which is, in essence, what the "New Adult" experience is.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
Welcome to the club.
Yeah, as far as contemp NA, that's something that could fit well in the category aside from Romance. TO be fair, romance is probably a pretty big factor for a lot of people in the target age range. I mean, tons of my friends are engaged or married, or rolling through what I consider to be a very unhealthy number of SOs. But that doesn't mean there are other things to focus a story on.
Exactly. But it's marketed either as adult SFF or literary.
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I'm actually incredibly surprised New Adult is starting to catch on. I think it was maybe 3-4 years back St. Martin's Press coined the term with a contest they had? There was a big buzz about it initially then, but it died down pretty quickly. Personally, I think it's necessary. The first novel I wrote was New Adult and I didn't realize until I started querying it that agents/publishers were so hostile to college-aged protagonists (of course, there were a lot of other problems with that novel, including the fact that I was writing about a college student when I was 15 haha). If publisher's are finally waking up to the fact that YA readers (including those over 18) want to read about college-aged protagonists, I think it's a positive development.
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Thanks!
When I think of chick lit I guess I think more of Meg Cabot-esque books.