Let's Talk New Adult

Hey guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Over here, we are super stoked about Stef's beautiful daughter and Andee finishing her Master's~ *diploma and baby confetti everywhere* so go on and congratulate them!

Today I want to get into NA, aka the New Adult category. My latest manuscript is a NA fantasy and I sort of went on a Twitter Thing a while back about some of this, but I wanted to collect things ~*coherently*~ in a post. So gather 'round the internets, kiddos, bust out the snacks, and let's talk NA.

First, a quick primer if you're unfamiliar:

Wait wait, so what is NA? 

Okay, so this is a legit question and it's one that we're still answering as writers, truthfully.

New Adult is an age category (similar to MG, YA, adult, etc) with protagonists in their "new adult" years, aka the free space after high school where you start work in the professional world, go to college, enroll in the military, or any myriad of life options. Part of the beauty of the category (and also this point in life) is its infinite possibility.

What makes a manuscript NA vs. adult is actually similar to what makes something YA vs. adult: it's the perceptions of the characters and the lens through which the story is told. You can easily (and it's def been done) tell a story about characters in college meant to be read by adult audience, just like how stories about teenagers are not necessarily YA.

Okay, cool. But why are people saying NA is a trend?

This comes back to our age-old adage here on the ranch: publishing changes slowly/is just slow, period. It's hard to tell what's an emerging, permanent thing and what's the latest life-fast-die-hard trend in the market.

I, personally, would like NA to be a permanent thing. I think that it's been around long enough to justify this (keeping in mind that I've just been a literary agent intern and editorial intern and Not a 100% Vetted Industry Professional), and I think it's a category that people are approaching cautiously but optimistically. You look around, you see NAs getting snapped up in PM, you see literary agents listing NA as a category they rep. Indie authors are doing fantastically with NA.

Still, there's a chance it could be a trend, a bubble that will burst, and that we're just riding it out and reaping the benefits of the NA market until it gets over-saturated/the same thing that happened with Paranormal happens.

Okay, primer over. Let's get down the to heavy lifting.

What is NA, really? 

Again, no one is really satisfied on this yet. Search for new adult stories on Amazon, and you'll find that the bulk of them are about kids in college, tend to be contemporary romance, and almost always feature sex.

Which, in itself, is fine! I like those kinds of stories, and I think they are necessary and great. I am glad we have them in NA and I don't want them to go away.

What I don't want is for them to be the entirety of the category.

Imagine if YA were only dystopians. I know I wouldn't read it as much. (And I have nothing against the dystopian genre or its writers-- I just got Way Freaked Out that one time in junior high when we read THE GIVER and my paranoid self has been ruined ever since. Same thing with mysteries. I do read an occasional one and really dig it, but only reading those? Nope nope nope.)

It's the diversity of genres that makes me love YA. Fantasy is my heart and soul, but I've loved getting to explore contemporary, paranormal, and tons of other stories in there. I like reading about Hazel and Augustus navigating the real world with a very real disease, and then seeing June and Day face off in one of the most epic games of cat and mouse I've ever read.

I think NA can have the same breadth, but I also think it's up to us as writers to make that happen.

Is sex a requirement of NA? 

This comes back to how we define NA, what it is now and where it could be going. Right now, it does feel like a requirement to have sex in a NA book, especially graphic sex.

I've heard NA described as "finding your place in the world" versus YA's "finding yourself." I don't think that's wrong, but I also don't think that's totally accurate. As an NA (does 25 still count? I'm still inexplicably in college?) or a former NA, I don't consider myself totally figured out. I view NA as more "finding yourself around other people" or as learning to be interdependent in contrast with learning to be independent as a YA.

Sex is an important part of interdependence. Is it always necessary in an NA? I don't think so. I think it's something that should be addressed, like if a character is choosing to wait, or knows they're asexual, but if we're talking about how NA protags fit into their worlds, then I definitely want to know how they fit into another, most significant other's world, too.

And like in YA, I want to see a variety of sexual experience and levels of explicitness. Right now, the scope is pretty narrow: most NA veers toward graphic of-course-they-have-sex romance. Again, not a problem on its own, but real new adults-- aka the people whose lives we NA writers should be imitating through our art-- have a wide scope of interactions. Sometimes you have a terrible break-up in high school, a fun fling at a house party, and then you're alone again for months.

To sum it up, I really want to see NA exhibit a greater breadth. I know some writers are looking in that direction (and I have my eye on you, 2015 and 2016 releases), but what do you guys think?

What do you want to see in your NA?

Valentine's Day Make Us Swoon Finalists!

Update: Entry #5 is the winner! You should have received an email from secret.life.of.writers@gmail.com by now; if not--please contact us! Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the contest. Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered our contest! We had LOTS of fabulous entries, and narrowing it down to just five was definitely not an easy task. But here we are, five wonderfully swoon-worthy scenes for you to read a vote for! Leave your votes in the comment box, and please only choose one entry! Voting ends at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!

The winner will be announced first thing tomorrow morning, and will soon be followed our second round of SeCrits! (So in other words, be sure to come back and see us tomorrow too!)

And without further ado...

Entry #1

She always arrives late and even when he's not looking, he can sense her through a curious magnetism, a pole invisible inside of him realigning to match the one in her, electric fields shivering when she gets close. 

He can't keep doing this, not for seven more weeks. When she moves to get the voltmeter, she litters the air around her with the stray sparks of her scent and he's gone. They're assigned lab partners, and he's probably just static to her anyway, a one-second hush on the radio band she sometimes dances to when she thinks he's not paying attention. 

She asks for the ruler. He tries to hand it to her, but when his fingers brush hers the electricity turns his spine into a live wire and he jolts, dropping it. 

"My bad." Her lips quirk into a half-smile and she picks it up. This is how she crackles herself into his daydreams class after class: he'll replay this in his head until he's worn the memory raw. "Sorry! That's like the third time I've staticked someone today." 

He waves it off and doesn't realize he sounds like a total idiot until after he finishes saying that it's totally fine, really, and that she should feel free to shock him whenever she wants. Then the words race back to him and he shudders, face flushed, trying to conceal the fact that he is being slowly consumed from the inside out, even as her laughter singes into his skin.

Entry #2 

Setup: 17yo Marilla and her boyfriend, Chris, who are both wizards, have been discussing college plans. Since Marilla wants to study engineering while Chris wants to study magic, they would have to go to different colleges.

“Me? An accountant,” Chris laughs and pulls me into his arms, brushing his lips across my forehead. I try but fail to concentrate on his words, my attention zeroing in on the touch of his lips. “Thank you, Marilla. I’m glad to know you’d be there for me even if I was something so boring. But trust me when I say being a wizard is all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Hmmm,” I respond, enraptured by his fingers tracing my shoulder blade. “That’s good.”

“Yes, it is,” he says. “And you know getting a foundation at a first-rate Norm engineering school isn’t a terrible idea at all. And maybe, you could come here for grad sch…” I cut his sentence short, leaning up and kissing him hard.

He staggers back into the wall. I press against him, not letting up. I slide my hands up his chest, feeling the strength of his muscle beneath his t-shirt. A part of me wishes it wasn’t there, that I could feel the smooth skin underneath, but the other half of me is focused on his lips, on the taste of his mouth, unable to comprehend that anything could ever be so sweet. 

“Get a room!” Someone shouts, and I jump back, my face flushing. Chris doesn’t move away from the wall, staring at me with wide eyes as he tries to catch his breath. My flush deepens. I did that. I literally took his breath away. I’m somehow proud and embarrassed at the same time.

Entry #3

From my Upper MG science fiction, thirteen-year-old Gary, who has been abducted by aliens and gifted the power of telekinesis, has just used his ability to retrieve a pillow tucked tightly inside the hand of his teenaged, alien trainer, Esther.

Esther sucked in a breath, opened her hand, and stared at the red burn mark on her palm.

Before she could say anything, Gary spoke up, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so rough.” He took her wrist and inspected the red marks in her palm. With his free hand he touched the tips of his fingers to his lips then laid them gently in her palm. He folded her fingers over his and gazed into her eyes. “All better.” He smiled.

Esther blinked, a look of surprise forming on her face. “Yes, that feels much better now.” Her shimmering lips curled upward causing a dimple to appear on her right cheek.

Her happiness made Gary feel like he was floating, like nothing bad could ever change this one moment. Though he didn't know why, he leaned in closer and closer, time crawling by. Her exotic, floral scent filled his nose and intoxicated him. His mouth went dry as he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

When Gary regained control of his frozen muscles, he pulled back immediately and looked away from Esther, cheeks burning. His stomach knotted with regret. Did I just ruin our friendship?

Her hand lightly touched his shoulder. Calm washed over him, his nerves eased, and the knot in his stomach untwisted. He turned to her, surprised to see her still smiling. It was infectious. He tried to hide the giant grin erupting. She's happy, so maybe I didn't mess anything up. What does this mean?

Entry #4 

This is from my WiP, and it's after Merrin and Elias have gotten in a fight. He's gone off to his room alone,  fallen asleep, and had lots of freaky dreams.

“Shh. Elias, it’s okay.” Her soft voice is sweet and warm but oh, God,
how did Merrin get into this dream? Cool fingers trail down the side
of my face, and my breaths slow. 

“There. There. It’s okay.” 

My eyes drift shut. “Merrin.” I croak in a whisper. “How did you…” 

“Daniel’s hack, remember?” 

Her body presses flush against mine, and I vaguely wonder how she got

in here without me noticing at the same time that I know I don’t
actually give a shit.  

My eyes have adjusted to the dark, and now I can see gray-on-gray in
relief. The delicate outline of her nose, her dark eyelashes blinking
at me. She props herself up on her elbow, keeping her body against
mine, letting her other hand trail down my neck and rest on my chest.
She is so sure, so steady. So definitely here, with me, despite what I
said to her. 

My eye trains down to her her shoulder, perfectly round and starkly
white. My brain wraps around one overwhelming thought - I hate the
thin strap that runs between her shoulder and her collarbone more than
anything else in the world right this moment. Somehow, I nod my head
in answer to her question. 

She leans down and kisses my forehead. She’s never done that before,
but God, I never want her to stop. The way her throat curves down over
my lips… 

She pulls back, looking down at me again. “We’re going to be okay.”

Entry #5

My chest heaves from the run, my shirt soaked on both sides. I catch my breath and weigh my options. He approaches: ten feet away, then five. At three feet, I fling my last balloon and fall to the ground, hoping to take him by surprise, hoping his return throw sails over my head. My balloon hits, bursting just above his collar bone and spraying up against his neck.

He laughs. His balloon? Still in his hand.

"Oh, you've asked for it now."

"Oh shit," I say, rolling into a ball and covering my head.
The grass rustles as Eric steps toward me. He's right over me, waiting for me to move.

"Come on. Get it over with. I surrender.”

"You do?"
I uncurl and nod. He kneels and reaches for my hand, pulls me up to my knees. My chest brushes against his.
My skin shivers, and I don't even try to pretend it's from the wet T-shirt. I let my body fall against him, press against him. He drops my hand and puts his arm around me. I feel his pulse through his fingertips on the small of my back. I fight the need to blink.

Then there's a pop. A fresh cold drips down my face, my shoulder, my back.

"You dirty rat. You tricked me.”

"Payback," he whispers.

His hand finds my face, pulls me closer, tips my head back, slides over my cheek. His lips are there. Right there.

Alright readers, take it away! You have one vote, so choose wisely! :) 

Friday Fun: Valentine's Day Make-Us-Swoon Contest!

Happy Valentine's Day lovelies!

Okay, so it's a little early, but we've got so much awesomeness already planned for next week (SeCrits! Awesome Author visit!) that we thought we'd go ahead and start spreading the love a little bit early.

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVEEE

I hope you all have someone special to spend this Valentine's with, but if not--hey, that's what our secret book boyfriends (or girlfriends!) are for, right? Right. With that in mind, we thought we'd have a little contest to celebrate YOU and your most swoon-worthy creations. So here are the details:

-You have until SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10th at 10:00 P.M. EST to submit up to 250 of your most swoon-worthy words. They can be from a completed manuscript or a WIP, and they can feature a kiss, a spark, a declaration of love--whatever you think is most likely to make your fellow blog readers sigh longingly or perhaps need a cold shower after reading. 

-Send said words to: secret.life.of.writers@gmail.com. Feel free to include a line or two of summary to lead into your 250 words, if you feel it's necessary (but ONLY a line or two!)

-We'd like to keep this blog suitable for readers of all ages, so please consider that when submitting 

-On Monday, we will anonymously post up to five of the entries. If we get more than five entries, which I suspect we will because you all seem like a bunch of lovely romantics, then we will narrow it down to our top five choices and post those.

-Now, here's the fun part: THE PRIZE! On Monday, everybody gets to read the smexy and then vote for their favorite entry! The one with the most votes will win a SECRET VALENTINE'S DAY PRIZE PACK filled with lots of goodies, including this useful little book for your writing shelf:

And there's a good chance that chocolate of some sort will be involved as well ;)  So polish up those words and submit, submit, submit! I can't wait to read!

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014.

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com