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Writing YA vs. NA
When I began writing novels I was a pre-teen, so I naturally wrote Young Adult novels. It was so easy then; I was filled with angst and hormones. I understood people my own age--for the most part. When I hit around seventeen I stopped writing. There were some rather unpleasant people in my life who made me feel like I was crap and so was my writing. Somehow, with the help of my husband, I started writing again around eighteen or nineteen. It started with my husband telling me to stop complaining about a book I was reading. He simply looked me in the eye and said “You used to write. You don’t like what you’re reading, write something you will like.”. So I did, but I started writing Young Adult and all of a sudden it was kind of hard. I thought it might have to do with my sabbatical from the art, but I just couldn’t relate to the teenage me anymore. At eighteen I moved out of my parents house--not because we didn’t get along, but to move in with my four years senior to me husband. At nineteen I married my best friend since I was sixteen--the same aforementioned “old man” (It’s his birthday today--he’s twenty-seven and keeps telling me he’s old *rolls eyes*). So I found myself writing characters that were mentally past their ages in the books--in the case of In Between Seasons Kate was eighteen, and Hunter was twenty-five. As I look back at it, it really is more of a New Adult novel than a Young Adult one, but I digress. Then when I wrote Walking in the Shadows the trend continued--every person who has read the book has said how mature Vera is. The one that made me realize I was writing into a category that wasn’t quite my characters was Walking in the Shadows. Vera is in high school, but she has adult responsibilities. I started having the recurring nightmare, which I thought was merely residual Vera inside my head. I was stuck in high school, as a teenager but my mind was an adult. I kept thinking things a teenager wouldn’t--I kept worrying about things a teenager wouldn’t. However, after Walking in the Shadows was published I still continued to have the dream. That’s when I decided I was done with Young Adult--my writing was what was stuck in high school, but having adult thoughts. New Adult saved me from my nightmares, because it fit not only my stage in life, but my characters far better. It also broadened my horizons--I literally stopped worrying about logistics like swearing and sex, and let my characters do and say exactly what I wanted them to.Even the hard stuff like writing sex scenes got easier, but I didn’t lose my feelings on how those things should go. New Adult has gained a nasty reputation for being “smutty” Young Adult, and while some are, mine aren’t. Yes, my characters “do it”, but you aren’t sitting there reading the details--it’s more about the emotions than the actual physical act. As for swearing, my characters are like myself; they don’t do it on a daily basis, but when they’re pissed, you sure as hell know it! I also don’t think New Adult is Young Adult gone wild--it’s its own genre because the characters are the age range between Young Adult and Adult. The genre fills a gap that has existed for quite some time and was in desperate need of being filled. I’m glad that as a writer I was able to broaden my horizons with the genre of New Adult, and it’s not something I’m going to stop writing any time soon!
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Emma Walker was a writer who'd lost herself to someone else's anger--who had given up on ever feeling like herself again.
Evan Levesque was a rock-god--the one all the woman wanted, but he'd never gotten used to the loneliness between the stage and real life.
With just one cup of coffee they'll begin a journey of self-discovery at each others sides, but can Emma handle Evan's fame while dealing with her own demons? Emma's checkered personal past, a bad relationship that haunts the edges of her memories, threatens to make everything implode on them when Evan takes matters into his own hands.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words...they'll destroy my soul--Can Emma handle being put back together and facing who she's become because of it?
GENRE: New Adult>Contemporary Romance
Mild to moderate sexual content
Cassandra doesn't remember a time when she wasn't writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character's stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. In 2012 she became a published Young Adult author, releasing In Between Seasons (The Fall, #1) and Walking in the Shadows. In 2013 she branched out by using her artistic illustrating talents to publish her first Children's novel, The Adventures of Skippy Von Flippy: Tales of Friendship (Skippy Tales, #1). Cassandra will also release her first New Adult novel, Just One Cup, in the Spring of 2013.
Cassandra is a freelance professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is the owner of Gio Design Studios, a photography and publication marketing company that designs covers and marketing materials for authors utilizing the company's photography. She is currently studying to receive a degree in Marketing. Cassandra is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England with the other loves of her life their dogs, Bubski and Kanga.
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I am so glad to see authors be able to write in an age group that feels more natural to them. I've never heard of Love Exactly before, but it sounds good. Thanks for sharing!
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