In today’s day and age, new ways of writing are constantly being created. Some may automatically think fanfiction and its evolution from constant online mockery, to being the platform for a movie like 50 Shades of Grey. I, however, find myself interested in discussing other kinds of format changes and topical changes in the writing and therefore the publishing world. In this article, I will explore a few different new genres and see how they came to be created and eventually published in the hopes of understanding how these kinds of trends may continue in the future.  

 

I’ll begin with a particular genre I find quite intriguing called the New Narrative. This genre was created in San Francisco in the late 1970s-early 1980s. During this time, America was in an uproar. It appeared that issues of the people such as women’s rights and rights for people of the LGBTQ+ community, were fighting to be just as important as the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. It was a hard battle to fight. According to, “Congratulations, You're a New Narrative Subject,” Gay and lesbian people craved a platform where they could be heard and could be free. This was the perfect storm that led to the birth of the New Narrative. 

 

In this genre, writers use techniques that were originally categorized as “poetic” or “lyrical,” such as fragmenting stories or using meta-text to write pieces that more deeply expressed themselves. Many new narrative works contained explicit writings about sex between same-sex couples. This kind of writing closed a gap between the writer and their written word, bringing the reader to a place where it all felt like one, which was incredibly exciting for writers and readers alike. New Narrative broke many of the once regarded “rules” of writing.  It caused writers to explore writing outside the box, to mix genres and imagery, creating something beautiful while speaking about their lives that they once had to conceal from the public. An example of this genre would be Rene Gladman’s Calamities which is written as a story which delves into the mind of the narrator as she writes, rather than into characters or plot.  

 

New Narrative also began to gain recognition for being a way for the AIDS epidemic to be documented by members of that community. While much of the world wanted to turn a blind eye or ignore the plight of these people, the New Narrative gave them a soapbox to stand upon so they could shout that they too were human, and were suffering. The community stood together to make sure no one felt alone.  

 

Robert Gluck and Bruce Boone were the first to publish this kind of work. Even today New Narrative is being written and published. While it isn’t only written by members of the LGBTQ+ community, it does still do what it can to push past boundaries that once existed to restrict what could be written and published.  

 

A second genre that is on the newer side and is becoming increasingly more popular is called New Adult literature. One can think of it as the bridge between YA and Adult novels. It’s targeted towards people from ages 18-30 or so. It makes sense as there is a difference between people in that 18-30 range and the ages we tend to consider adults. People in this age range are graduating high school, going to college, or right into the workforce and are trying to understand what life means to them. It is a complex and difficult time and having books that are more geared towards them is a very smart move. It allows for people to write what they want to read.  

 

As the title would suggest, “What Is New Adult Fiction?” helped me to form a more collective and holistic understanding of this genre. New Adult was teased in the past but was truly brought to light in 2009 when a conference decided to bring more attention to this genre. In the beginning, “NA mainly consisted of erotica set most often within universities where Greek life clichés reigned and no one actually matured into adulthood” (What is New Adult Fiction). It is beginning to push past those bounds as well as past people’s ideas of what NA should be. It doesn’t yet have its own section in bookstores and there is some push-back as always. However, New Adult works are becoming more and more sought out by agents, editors, and readers. It allows for a little bit of a younger generation to play with what is written, allowing windows for more LGBTQ+ stories to be written as well as stories about “The Coming-Of-Age Experience, Mental Health, Physical, Verbal, and/or Mental Abuse, Politics, Social Issues, Emotional Growth, and Relationships,” in general (What Is New Adult Fiction). 

 

Looking at these two genres alone shows how in the last few decades writing and the world of publishing has expanded. The topics people want to explore have become broader. Hopefully over time things like same-sex relations will be less taboo as well. It gives me hope that writers will continue to break the rules we used to believe we had to live by. If they continue to do that, then let’s hope that publishers continue to be on board, helping to use words to enact change and promote inclusivity in the literary world.