Tags
authors, interviews, mysteries, mystery novels, NA, New Adult, novelists, novels, writers
The future of New Adult continues to look brighter! Price McNaughton’s latest book, Murder is Ugly, tells of a young woman looking for a direction in her life, as well as the truth about a murder mystery.
MC: You say storytelling is something you’ve always loved. What made finally decide to tell stories professionally?
PM: I was involved in a horseback riding accident that left me bed ridden for about three months. It was definitely a turning point in my life. At the time, I was miserable and in a lot of pain. Due to a concussion, I spent a lot of time in dark rooms with no stimulation to help keep the terrible headaches at bay. Believe it or not, this was pretty boring! I thought up a murder mystery plot and focused on it. I developed the characters and the storyline completely in my head. Once I was cleared to use a computer, I wrote down everything I had thought out and my first book was born. Since then, I’ve become addicted to writing. 
MC: How did living in the South inspire your novel, Murder is Ugly?
PM: It’s probably one of the main inspirations for my writing. The greatest memories from my childhood are the ones spent around the kitchen table with my grandmother and mother and various family members, telling and hearing family stories. My father was also a great story teller. He insisted on hearing about our days, in detail, over supper. Myself and my siblings would compete for the best and most entertaining stories. I find the South to be a great place of tradition, love and joy as well as sadness and tragedy. It’s influenced every part of my life. When I was writing Murder is Ugly as well as A Vision of Murder, I never considered them being set anywhere else. It was a given that the stories would occur in the South to southern characters in my mind. It’s what I know and what I feel comfortable writing.
MC: Did you subconsciously decide to make your main character, Jinx, to be a college graduate or do you decide because the New Adult category is gaining momentum among readers?
PM: Jinx was born that way! I hadn’t even heard of the New Adult category when she was written. It was similar to what I was going through at the time, being newly graduated and unsure of the direction that I wanted to go in. As I begin investigating the best ways to market my completed story, I stumbled across the New Adult category and I have to say I really like it.
MC: Do you think New Adult has a future much like YA?
PM: I do. I was (and still am!) a great reader of YA novels as well as adult novels. For many years, i’ve found that a great divide was happening in the areas of both styles of writing. In general, YA were staying typically the same while Adult novels were becoming darker and more adult oriented. It was becoming increasingly harder to find a style of writing that fell comfortably in between the two genres. I’m hoping that New Adult fiction will fill this void and so far I have to say that it has. I find the NA category to be very similar to YA in style while being a bit more complex. I only see New Adult growing in popularity.
MC: What does the future hold for Price McNaughton?
PM: I’m not sure. I’m currently writing a dystopian trilogy that I have been working on for a few years now (it will also be NA) and a sequel to my first novel, A Vision of Murder. I hope to stick around for awhile, but I’ll guess time and reader response will tell!
Check out more about Price McNaughton here:
Megan Cashman 