{Guest Post} Liesel Hill

Why New Adult Over Other Genres?

Because New Adult is a relatively new classification for a book, I’m getting asked a lot why I chose to write it instead of YA or just adult. My answer is that it wasn’t a conscious choice.

I’m not particularly drawn to YA because I get fed up quickly with teenage drama. Now, before you start throwing tomatoes, I know that’s a gross over-generalization. Despite that complaint on my part, I’ve read a lot of YA books that are wonderfully written and not full of teenage drama. However, I’ve also read my share that are nothing but teenage drama. I know that age appeals to a lot of readers and writers, but I’m not one of them.

I wanted my characters to be more mature. Adults dealing with adult problems and making adult decisions. So, basically I had a story with specific characters in my head and that’s what I wrote. I didn’t worry about how to classify it until after it was written.

Then there’s the fact that, although I prefer adult characters, most adult novels have “adult content” in them. I’m pretty light on such content. I don’t write anything explicit—I keep it to a PG-13 rating. One definition of New Adult is that it reads like a YA (clean of content) but with characters a few years older. My book fits perfectly into that categorization.

So basically, New Adult is the midpoint between YA and Adult. Even saying that, it’s definition is broad. It doesn’t have to have twenty-something characters. Sometimes books about older teenagers—eighteen or nineteen—are also considered New Adult.

In short, it’s a fun genre to play around with and one I vastly prefer. After all the market is saturated with YA, which isn’t a bad thing by itself, but for new writers looking to differentiate themselves, a unique classification can only be advantageous.

Happy classifying, Everyone! I hope it enriches your reading experience! ;D

Persistence of Vision
by Liesel K. Hill
Series: Interchron #1
Pages: 386
Available as of January 29, 2012
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In a world where collective hives are enslaving the population and individuals have been hunted to the verge of extinction, Maggie Harper, and independent 21st Century woman, must find the strength to preserve the freedom of the future, but without the aid of her memories.

After experiencing a traumatic time loss, Maggie is plagued by a barrage of images she can't explain. When she's attacked by a creep with a spider's web tattoo, she is saved by Marcus, a man she's never met, but somehow remembers. He tells her that both he and her creepy attacker are from a future in which individuals are being murdered by collectives, and Marcus is part of the rebellion. The collectives have acquired time travel and they plan to enslave the human race throughout all of history. The flashes Maggie has been seeing are echoes of lost memories, and the information buried deep within them is instrumental in defeating the collective hives.

In order to preserve the individuality of mankind, Maggie must try to re-discover stolen memories, re-kindle friendships she has no recollection of, and wade through her feelings for the mysterious Marcus, all while dodging the tattooed assassins the collectives keep sending her way.

If Maggie can't fill the holes in her memory and find the answers to stop the collectives, the world both in her time and in all ages past and future will be doomed to enslavement in the grey, mediocre collectives. As the danger swirls around her and the collectives close in, Maggie realizes she must make a choice: stand out or fade away...

*New Adult futuristic dystopian fantasy

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