Emerging Genre: New Adult Fiction

New Adult Fiction.

The elusive emerging genre in-between Young Adult and Adult Fiction.

Why it is called "New Adult" is beyond my knowledge, but here are some thoughts:

Have you ever read a book and knew the protagonist had been edited into a teenager for the purpose of categorising the novel into a sellable genre? The characters behave, speak, think and read more like twenty-year-old's, yet the novel is set in high school?
While trying to classify my own work in progress a few months ago (I grudgingly class it as "women's fiction") I stumbled across a couple of articles and blogs proclaiming the emergence of "New Adult". Today I asked the question on twitter if anyone knew if "new adult" was anything more than a pipe dream. The resulting conversations under new thread #newadultchat blew me away- so many writers and readers wanting to discuss this topic. The fact there are so many of us out there gives me hope that one day New Adult will be a genre reality.

The concept of fiction can be tricky, as to me, a part of yourself is in every story. When it comes to character driven stories (which I have discovered mine are) where the main character goes on an emotional quest rather than a physical one, a certain amount of your heart has to be in it for the emotion to be believable. Even in many thrillers, horrors, adventures, apocalyptic dystopians, a struggle of the heart keeps the reader emotionally invested in the characters plight.

To convey feeling, you the writer need to feel, and how we feel about situations, people and experiences, changes as we move from one stage of our life to the next. I feel I could write about a teenager, as I have been one, I could write about someone in their twenties because I am one. I don't feel I have the emotional maturity or psychological development to accurately story-tell about someone in their thirties, forties and beyond. Does this sound ridiculous? As I am talking about fiction, perhaps it does.

The idea of fiction may very well be to write about that which you do not know. For me writing about a fictional land or event is easier than writing about a fictional emotional reaction to the land or event. Because the land you create is always complete fiction. The FEELINGS are not. Everyone feels. The emotion in a novel can be an encyclopedia of feelings.

My MC is in her early twenties. She is not married. She doesn't have children. She isn't getting divorced. But she isn't a little girl either. She goes through some experiences from her late-teens INTO her twenties that are shaping her into a woman.

Nobody ever has it all figured out. Although there is a massive stereotype that the teen years are the years of self discovery, I will insist that this is not so! I personally remember the teens years just being bitchy and horrible- I don't think I discovered anything about myself. Whereas the years from 18-21, those three little years, changed me.

Between 18-21, wow- I just went through so much. Those years cause massive upheaval- and they are important! The changes to yourself, your life, career, family, friends, lovers, oh my! Nobody turns 18 and instantly finds everything that mattered when they were 17 no longer matters, like the young adult stops at 18, and now you suddenly know everything.

And nothing else seems to happen to you until you are in your thirties: finding a partner, getting divorced, changing careers, raising children. You know what? All that stuff happens when you're twenty as well! What- a career change isn't as big a deal in your twenties as in your thirties? Just because "oh you're still young enough to do that" doesn't mean it's not a big deal. Does getting married and having a baby in your twenties feel different than in your thirties? I don't know; I'm not thirty.

I don't know if when I'm in my thirties I will feel different about life, and love, and look back on my past differently. I am GUESSING that I will, as I already feel and think differently than I did five years ago when I was twenty. I already reflect back on things that I have been through in the past ten years and contemplate the past. How will ten more years change my perspective?

The twenties are an in-between. It is glaringly obvious that there is a massive gap between a 17 year old protagonist versus a 35 year old one. What is in-between?

I guess I just feel that taking experiences a twenty-something goes through and trying to say that a seventeen-year-old went through it, not only can create unbelievable characters, but also changes the feeling and emotion associated with it. The mental and emotional development of someone in their twenties is different from someone who is in high-school.

I think the same applies to characters in their thirties. I am 25, married, no children of my own, have a 17-year old step-son, a dog, a "day" job and I am desperately hoping to one day make a career out of writing. I have had loved ones come and go, have been through my own triumphs and tribulations. If I had been 35 when I got married and was bestowed the joys of a 17 year old step-son, would I have treated him differently? Would I have FELT different about the whole situation? Quite possibly.

I think I am trying to say that each stage of life is valid and important, and to try and give a teenage character the same experiences and emotions as someone ten years older than they are feels like it almost undermines the experiences had by a teenager- as those are important too. It changes the idea of how teenagers react to situations, emotions and people, and also impacts those EXPERIENCED by someone in their twenties. By the same token, I will NEVER pretend I know what it feels like to have 10 years on what I am now.
I hope that 10 years gives me knowledge, insight, understanding and wisdom- at least more than what I have now, and I will never undermine that LIFE EXPERIENCE by pretending I have already been there.

If I sound naive and unrealistically hopeful while writing this I actually think it further proves my point: the mind of twenty-somethings works different! The feelings are different! The level of KNOWLEDGE is different! We sound young because we are young- BUT we aren't 17 either. Don't insult the years we have been through by classifying us as big teenagers, and don't insult our older peers by saying we have been through everything they have. Because we haven't.


We haven't earned the right to speak as if we have been there and done it all. We haven't. But you know what? We are in it. Now. Can't I tell you about the journey?