Less Wham-Bam, More Thank You Ma'am: ROW80
As promised last Wednesday in my
New Adult Fears
post, today it's all about the New Adult genre.
To summarize, my daughter recently inquired about New Adult... a new genre she'd heard about and noticed me reading. She reads all the time and prefers paranormal/fantasy. Basically, she's exhausted most of her YA options. She thought NA would be a solution.
However, here's what I've discovered about NA.
So far it's basically adult romance. There, I said it.
When I first saw "new" before adult, I thought it meant the target audience would be newer or almost adults (high schoolers). Since young adult is read by late elementary and early middle school students, I thought this would be a genre to bridge the gap between that and reading full adult books.
Not so. It's more that new = contemporary. Quite frankly, if these books are depicting 20-year-old romance today, my daughters are not allowed to leave the house until they are 35.
I don't want my 8th grader, almost 14, to be reading some of the sex scenes I've read in NA. From what I've read so far, it's romance light and kinky heavy. Some have bordered on erotica light. It's too much wham-bam and not enough thank-you-Ma'am.
To clarify, I'm 41. I don't need every romance scene to be knight-in-shining-armor. That's unrealistic. But sex should be respectful and at least a little sweet. Right?
Another thing I don't need (for myself or my daughter)... the use of the F word for shock value only or as a sex come-on. Sure, if I drop a freaking cinder block on my foot, you are getting the F word. If I'm trying to land a date with some hot dude, not so much.
One last complaint... too often the writing is similar to YA (less details, word choice, less maturity) with just the aforementioned additions. Is NA simply a way to amp up YA sex and language?
Please note, I support all authors and know some great ones who write NA. It's just a confusing genre for me, particularly as a mom.
If I'm missing something, please let me know. And I might be a little old-fashioned, although I cringe at the word.
*****
A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Update
It's Monday, and time for my check in. My family and I went to DC this weekend for my husband's brother's wedding. What fun! But I'm definitely in catch-up mode this week. My main goal is to focus on my Tala Prophecy novella. Wish me luck!
Oh, and I thought I'd share a picture of me and my three daughters from the wedding.
To summarize, my daughter recently inquired about New Adult... a new genre she'd heard about and noticed me reading. She reads all the time and prefers paranormal/fantasy. Basically, she's exhausted most of her YA options. She thought NA would be a solution.
However, here's what I've discovered about NA.
So far it's basically adult romance. There, I said it.
When I first saw "new" before adult, I thought it meant the target audience would be newer or almost adults (high schoolers). Since young adult is read by late elementary and early middle school students, I thought this would be a genre to bridge the gap between that and reading full adult books.
Not so. It's more that new = contemporary. Quite frankly, if these books are depicting 20-year-old romance today, my daughters are not allowed to leave the house until they are 35.
I don't want my 8th grader, almost 14, to be reading some of the sex scenes I've read in NA. From what I've read so far, it's romance light and kinky heavy. Some have bordered on erotica light. It's too much wham-bam and not enough thank-you-Ma'am.
To clarify, I'm 41. I don't need every romance scene to be knight-in-shining-armor. That's unrealistic. But sex should be respectful and at least a little sweet. Right?
Another thing I don't need (for myself or my daughter)... the use of the F word for shock value only or as a sex come-on. Sure, if I drop a freaking cinder block on my foot, you are getting the F word. If I'm trying to land a date with some hot dude, not so much.
One last complaint... too often the writing is similar to YA (less details, word choice, less maturity) with just the aforementioned additions. Is NA simply a way to amp up YA sex and language?
Please note, I support all authors and know some great ones who write NA. It's just a confusing genre for me, particularly as a mom.
If I'm missing something, please let me know. And I might be a little old-fashioned, although I cringe at the word.
*****
A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Update
It's Monday, and time for my check in. My family and I went to DC this weekend for my husband's brother's wedding. What fun! But I'm definitely in catch-up mode this week. My main goal is to focus on my Tala Prophecy novella. Wish me luck!
Oh, and I thought I'd share a picture of me and my three daughters from the wedding.
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