Trying My Hand at Romantasy

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

One of the hottest genres in publishing right now is romantasy -- a portmanteau of romance + fantasy. While technically this genre has been around in various iterations, especially in the indie scene, supposedly the popularity and wild success of Fourth Wing put this genre on the map.

It's so popular that even Goodreads introduced the romantasy category to their Goodreads Choice Awards last year, and there were plenty of options to choose from for voting.

So, why am I thinking about this?

I often (day)dream about my author career and I reflect frequently on the success of my debut YA fantasy, Son of the Siren. Finding an audience for that book has been more difficult than easy, and it hasn't met with the success I've been hoping for, though that can still change at any time.

I would like to write something that fits the market a little bit more--something easier to pitch, easier to promote, and easier in terms of finding readers.

Right now the story of my heart is The Name and the Key and its trilogy. I've worked on it off and on based on my health and concentration problems, so it isn't where it needs to be yet, but I've been thinking long and hard, and I think I want it to fit into the romantasy genre.

I've always put a little bit of romance into all of my stories, so this doesn't seem like much of a stretch for me. However, I've never written a full-on romance, nor steam and spice, so that's going to be a challenge for me. I don't know if I'll ever have the guts to write a full-on sex scene, but I know that there will be moments where it gets really close to one. Fade to black is usually my go-to, but I might try something more!

The Name and the Key is at a place where it's still malleable enough to change genres, as long as it's not anything drastic. The story is very much fantasy, filled with magic and demons and alchemy...but love (and lust!) figure into the story quite a bit, too, as a lot of the magic is wrapped up in the concept of desire. So I think changing it to romantasy won't be as implausible as it originally seems.

I also think I need to abandon the YA designation for this one. My characters are still young--Lily is eighteen and Andresh is nineteen--but I just feel like this book might potentially have themes that appeal to older audiences. I won't know for certain until I get feedback from someone like my agent for me to feel confident in writing this trilogy as New Adult instead of YA. However, I've been told my writing style fits with younger audiences, so it might be YA anyway. I'll need outside eyes for this one to be sure.

One of the definitions of romantasy says that it's fantasy that hits the requirements and beats of a romance. I don't know all of the romance rules yet, but I know the big one is the HEA. I have no problem with happy endings. I've evolved as a writer and want my stories to end happily. But I'm going to have to study romance plots and read romantasy to make sure I understand the genre and reader expectations of that genre.

I'm both nervous and excited about this. I'm embarking on something new and I think it will breathe new life into my manuscript. It will be challenging because I don't have experience writing romance according to its genre rules. I've read romance novels before--mostly historical--but I need to widen my net.

I would love to be able to pull this off, not only because I can see myself having fun with the challenge of it, but I think it will make readers fall in love with my characters even more, and that I'll have a better chance of finding those readers.

Please wish me luck, and thank you for your support!