What is New Adult?

 
New Adult's really found it's niche over the past year! But everyone seems to have a slightly different interpretation of what does and doesn't qualify as New Adult so I thought I would post my thoughts!

Why is New Adult necessary?
I love the Young Adult or Teen genre but it definitely focuses on young characters still in school and sometimes I do get tired of the teenage drama or parent filled lives. However I find the fiction section full of stories involving married women with children or at least people high up on the career ladder which I can never relate to!

What is New Adult to Me?
To me the New Adult genre bridges that gap in between being a teenager worried about all the dramatics that brings and being a full fledged adult with adult responsibilities.
It encompasses the 18-25 age range when people are starting to venture out of their parent's homes into the adult world whether they attend University, start full time work, or just decide where their life is heading.
New Adult covers this period of firsts and uncertainties and appeals to people who are themselves in that age range or who just enjoy reading about it!
 
What isn't New Adult?
I don't think any stories in which the main characters are under 18 or still attending Secondary/High School can be considered New Adult as those characters are still just teenagers and not usually part of the adult world.
Obviously there are exceptions but I would automatically put a book with a high school setting in the Young Age genre. However I now think of the book (dependant on subject matter) as New Adult even if the book starts just before or after High School graduation.

Is the New Adult genre just about contemporary books?
No, I think now the genre is established it will begin to branch out into different sub-genres.
I do think it's easier to write contemporary New Adult  purely because contemporary fiction had more of a gap in the market for books based on the 18-24 age range whereas other genres like fantasy are less focussed on the characters and more so on the plot. For example,  I think there are probably a lot of fantasy or sci-fi books, in particular, that would fall into the New Adult genre but are fantasy or sci-fi first so that's what they get labelled as if that makes sense!

I think I confused myself at one point writing this post so let me know what you think New Adult is?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx