Stacey Marie Brown is a a pretty cool lady. She's a new adult author with a great novel, Darkness of Light, out on Amazon and Barnes & Noble today (find the synopsis for the book at the bottom of this post). Stacey is one of those authors that really, truly loves New Adult fiction - she's not just hopping onto a bandwagon or a growing trend. She's passionate about it, and today she's going to talk about the allure of New Adult fiction, and why it's resonates with so many people.
Take it away, Stacey!
The Allure
of New Adult Fiction
By Stacey Marie Brown
It’s the classic
coming of age story, girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love. But, this
version has sex, swearing, violence, drugs, and alcohol. Yes, I am talking
about New Adult Fiction, or simply NA. It has always been around but was never
named, nor did it have the following it has now, especially in the fantasy
genre.
The Harry Potter books showed, on an
international scale, “kid’s books” weren’t just for kids anymore. Adults of all
ages were also enjoying these so-called children/ young adult books, even if
they did not have kids. Harry Potter became
acceptable for adults to openly read, but you still wouldn’t be caught in
public reading any other YA book. Then, along came Twilight and Hunger Games.
With the movie releases, the amount of adults, with or without kids in tow,
attending, buying merchandise, and starting group forums online exposed a
previously ignored category. Things began to change. Adults were admitting how much
they loved this older YA genre.
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Stacey! |
Do we need to
thank books like Twilight for the
fact we now have so much attention on the New Adult fiction? As much as some
people would like to heartily disagree, there is no denying these movies, and
the hunky males in them, have brought the spotlight onto the older fan.
Adults, who
previously had been switching book covers or secretly stealing their teenage
daughter’s books when she was at school, could now put away the flashlight and
come out from under the blanket. Twilight
and The Hunger Games movies let the more mature fan come out of the
literary closet and read teen books out in the open. And, boy did they. Thousands,
if not millions, of copies of these books were sold in every language around
the world.
But, let’s be
honest, 'tween books left most older fans a little unsatisfied. When you are
into your thirties, it gets a little harder to relate to a fourteen-year-old
mind. A girl getting kissed or holding hands with a boy just doesn’t do it for
us like it might have once. These books are sweet and the heroine is usually a
good girl who doesn't have pre-marital sex or swear—ever. There is nothing
wrong with this, but it feels somewhat unrealistic for the adult reader and many
older teens, especially in the world we live in now.
Fans started to
take it upon themselves to continue with the story or write alternative
scenarios for the characters, creating a cult-like following with fan fiction. They
took the characters they love and created alternative stories from the original,
upping it from PG to PG-13 or even R rated material. E. L. James' success with 50 shades of Grey started simply by
writing explicit fan fiction for Twilight,
which probably ended up with a larger following than Twilight itself.
Until recently there
had only been a select few established authors who dominated this formerly
unclassified genre. Unknown authors struggled to find an agent or publisher,
hearing their novel was too mature for teens but too young for the more mature
reader. They didn’t know how to market it. Frustrated, authors started to forgo
the standard agent/publisher avenue, understanding there was an audience out
there who desired these stories, and are now publishing the books on their own.
NA books are mostly being released by independent authors. It is still tough to
be independent, but some have found huge followings and have made a fruitful
career in writing NA.
Why do I think
there is such a following and love for this genre? Because it is the best of
both worlds. Most adult readers, including myself, still enjoy the excitement
of the “firsts.” Like the first real love—that time in your life when you were
becoming an adult and things were thrilling and new. It has angst, but also has
more action than a hand up the sweater. I know a lot of people in their 30s and
40s who were reading YA books and loving some aspects of them, but finding the stories
a little too young for them. Now with NA, readers and writers finally have
books they can relate to—ones that have a little more spice, a lot less innocence,
and are more relatable.
As an author who prefers
this genre, I'm so glad my book, Darkness
Of Light, has a home. I can’t believe it actually took this long, but now
that NA is here it will only continue to grow. NA is definitly here to stay.
For more information
about Stacey and her book, Darkness Of
Light, check out her website at: Stacey Marie Brown.com
Author Links
Darkness of Light Synopsis
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(I this this cover is so pretty!!) |
Freak. Witch. Crazy. Schizo.
Ember Brycin has been called them all. She’s always known she’s different. No one has ever called her normal, even under the best ofcircumstances. Bizarre and inexplicable things continually happen toher. Having two different colored eyes, strange hair, and an unusual tattoo only contributes to the gossip about her.
When the latest school explosion lands her in a facility for troubleteens, she meets Eli Dragen, who’s hot as hell and darkly mysterious.Their connection is full of passion, danger, and secrets. Secrets thatwill not only change her life, but what and who she is—leading herdown a path she never imagined possible.Between Light and Dark, Ember finds a world where truth and knowledgeare power and no one can be trusted.
But her survival depends onfinding out the truth about herself. In her pursuit, she is forcedbetween love and destiny and good and evil, even when the differencesbetween them aren’t always clear. At worst, she will incite a war that could destroy both worlds.
At best, she will not only lose her heartbut her life and everyone she loves. Once the truth is out, however,there will be no going back. And she’ll definitely wish she could.