NA stands for New Adult, featuring, for the most part, main characters that are college-aged. There are few NA books out there that aren’t set in *gasp* a college setting. And what do we have? Loads and loads of generic, bland stories.
Why? Why do I shame the NA genre so much? Isn’t YA full of used tropes and disastrous things too? Yes, it is, it is. Don’t get your panties in a twist. I don’t deny it.
Shallow when it Should be the Opposite
But it’s also true that if you really take a look at a bunch of NA books, you’ll find they are all, in most cases the tale of how A finally got laid with B, then had some troubles, and maybe, just maybe considers C, but ultimately is happy with B. The End.
NA is geared towards a more mature audience. One that doesn’t shy from swear words, sexuality and extreme violence. YA is usually more focused on shaping teens’ mind and helping them get a broader view about the world they live in and how it works. But the NA audience already know that world. They don’t need to be told what’s right and what’s wrong. It has to go beyond that. A more suitable question would be, ‘What happens if I’m leaning towards wrong?’ Or ‘I’m getting sick of right. What do I do?’
There are some wonderful NA books that I enjoy greatly. For example, Jennifer Armentrout has written some awesome ones, and other authors too. Their books might have all the characteristics that define the NA genre, but they also deal with deeper issues that give those stories something unique, that makes them stand out next to the others. There’s so much potential, and it’s being wasted, by authors not branching out.
By not doing so, people start asuming that college life is all about parties, sex, drinking, drugs, love triangles, and other stuff that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Yes, there are parties, and drinking. But there’s also the struggle of behaving like an adult, the fact that you don’t live with your parents anymore, taking daunting decisions that are going to change your life but you don’t know if you’re doing the right thing… etc.
I want to see humor, more family, frienship and real conflict. And not the same thing recycled the same way, all the time.
It’s time for the genre to stop being shallow and explore all the possibilites before it gets labeled for life as ‘Contemporary YA but with descriptive sexual scenes’. I’m sure we’d all appreciate it.
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