GenresFiction
New Adult
The first years of independent life.
New adult fiction looks at the years when someone is officially independent and practically not. First flats, first serious jobs, university or the decision to skip it, sex that isn't a subplot hidden from parents, friendships that replace family or fail to. The characters are old enough to make adult mistakes and young enough to be surprised by the size of them.
Romance is common on this shelf, and so is the contemporary novel about work and identity. Either way, don't write teenagers who have been aged up with a pen. These characters pay bills, or fail to, and they have a past that is short but already able to embarrass them. The tone can be intense. Intensity is convincing when it comes with the practical details of a life that has just become the character's own problem.
The kinds of book inside it
Romance
The relationship is central, and the lovers are building adult lives at the same time, which gives the romance somewhere to snag.
Contemporary
Work, friendship, and the first version of a grown-up life carry the book, with or without a love story in the middle of it.
College
Campus is the pressure cooker, and the book should know the difference between a brochure and the way students actually live.
When you want a first sketch, Storywell can draft a story summary in this vein. You are still the one who writes the book. Compose an idea.