We’ve already answered the question “What Is New Adult Fiction?,” but Bookish has a new essay exploring the key ingredients of a successful new adult novel.
Editors and authors shared their thoughts, useful intelligence for anyone interested in the new genre. Most agreed that “angst” was the most important theme. Here’s more from Bookish:
While angst has gotten a bad rap in the past few decades as it’s been equated with whiny teenagers, editors and writers think more about its original German meaning of “fear or anxiety.” Claire Zion, editorial director at Penguin’s imprint NAL, characterized angsty NA protagonists as “people in very real, kind of dark situations,” often due to alcoholism or abandonment. “They’re not glamorized at all, which romance often is. I don’t think that they’re exaggerated bad situations; they’re very real to common American experience. A lot of teens are growing up in broken homes or mixed families. Their parents have troubled pasts. People want to write about it, and people want to read about it.”