Guest Post: New Adult Genre by Emma Meade

Today, I’d like to welcome Emma Meade as she discusses the wildly popular New Adult Genre.  It’s taking the world by storm. Here’s Emma’s take on the genre.  Welcome, Emma!

Thanks for having me here today, Emerald. I’m going to talk briefly about the New Adult genre, something I’m seeing more and more of all the time.

The New Adult (NA) genre was only something I began to hear around the blogosphere a year or so ago. Young Adult with sex is the description I seemed to find time and time again. Is that an apt picture of this genre? Not in my opinion. And as this genre continues to gain recognition, I think more and more readers and writers will discover that description isn’t exactly correct.

There’s some debate about what NA encompasses, so here’s what I think. NA centres on the period of a person’s life after high school up to their mid-twenties. The characters are still growing up, but they are out on their own now, perhaps in college or starting their first job, learning to be self-reliant and often making mistakes in the process. NA doesn’t necessarily mean multiple sex scenes and a thin plot, but the characters are more mature than teenagers in school. They are gaining more world experience and exploring romantic relationships.

In Beneath Manhattan Skies, my central character, Erin Harris, is nineteen years old. She’s a Freshman at an art school in New York. It’s her first time living by herself, and she’s far from the small town of Copperfield, Arizona where she grew up. Erin is learning to be independent and has to deal with money woes and the usual stresses of life that most young adults go through. Given all that, I’d put Beneath Manhattan Skies firmly in the New Adult genre. Of course, Erin’s got some supernatural problems to deal with on top of normal worries, in this case, vampires. She’s living life and learning to adapt to new situations as they arise. In short, she’s growing up.

I’d love to know what others think of the New Adult genre? Do you think it deserves recognition as a genre in itself, or do you see it as simply Young Adult with slightly older characters? Or perhaps New Adult should be viewed as a category (giving readers an idea of the age group of the characters in the story) rather than a genre.

Author Bio

Emma Meade lives in rainy Ireland. She loves vampires, slayers, witches, ghosts, aliens & shadow men (or at least the youngest of the Shadow Men), and regular people who live extraordinary lives (think Slayerettes and you’re on the right track). Books, DVDS & TV show boxsets take up lots of space in her home, and she collects all the Point Horror books she can get her hands on. Writing supernatural stories and watching marathon re-runs of Buffy are some of her favourite ways of escaping reality.

Connect with Emma on:

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Beneath Manhattan Skies

November in New York is cold but full of possibility for college freshman Erin Harris. When her twin brother, Nick, shows up on her doorstep for a surprise visit, Erin is delighted. Unfortunately, Nick’s arrival coincides with the discovery of a body outside her apartment building, a body drained of blood. Right away, Nick assumes vampires are involved. He’s not exactly their biggest fan since Erin dated one in high school.

Juggling nosy roommates, a first date with a gorgeous guy from college and a brother on a Van Helsing kick is enough to keep any nineteen year old girl busy – And then Erin’s old flame walks back into her life.

Is Erin destined to be caught up in supernatural shenanigans, or will she choose a different path?

(45,000 word novella)

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