What the Heck Is Romantasy—and How Do You Write It?
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You’ve probably seen the TikToks. Or the headlines.
Forbes wrote about “25 Swoon-Worthy Romantasy Novels,” while Vulture dedicated a whole article to “The Rise of Rebecca Yarros, Mother of Dragon Smut.”
Onyx Storm, the newest book in The Empyrean series, sold a record-shattering 2.7 million copies in its first two weeks of sale, while the film rights to Quicksilver, the first instalment in the incomplete Fae & Alchemy series, went in a seven-figure sale to Netflix.
Romantasy, the current hot term for romance books that take place in fantasy settings, is all the rage with readers and online influencers. But what exactly is it? What distinguishes it from fantasy, or from erotica? And how hard is it to get in on the trend?
What Is Romantasy?
This may seem like a straightforward question, but it’s actually a hotly debated topic. In its most general sense, the answer is simple: romantasy is a novel that takes place in a fantasy world and has a strong romance element.
After that, it gets a little complicated. For instance, is there a difference between romantasy and fantasy romance? What about romantic fantasy? Does the romance have to be the most important part of the plot for it to qualify as romantasy, or is it allowed to take a backseat to the plot, as long as it’s still intrinsic to the story?
You’ll hear a lot of arguments in reader spaces about the differences between romantic fantasy, fantasy romance, and romantasy. But generally speaking, readers agree on all of the most important elements:
The book takes place in a fantasy setting, with magical elements.
There is a strong romance plotline that lasts the entire book.
The romance is a focus of the book. It is either close to or equal in weight to the wider overarching plot.
It follows the golden rule of all romance novels: there’s a happily-ever-after.
Romance novels (including romantasy) run the gamut from thrilling to cute to dark, but they all follow one simple rule: it must have a happily-ever-after, or at least a happy-for-now. Books that focus on romance as the main element of the story but don’t end happily, like many of John Green or Nicholas Sparks’s books, are classified as “women’s fiction” or “literary fiction,” and are shelved in a different part of the bookstore.
That doesn’t mean that romantasy books can’t be dark as all heck. There’s an entire subgenre of romantasy called “dark fantasy” that is full of incredibly dark situations, including within the romance—but those two messed up souls still find each other in the end. That’s what makes romance so beautiful.
If you’re debating whether your book is a fantasy novel or a romantasy novel, ask yourself how central the romance is to the plot. If you want to aim for this target, the answer should be, “very!”
The next thing you have to think about is the presentation of this spicy content.
Let’s Talk About the “Smut” of It All
Romance novels are about relationships, and people in relationships are (often) physically intimate. Sometimes that intimacy is behind closed doors and not described on the page. Other times it’s written out in full detail. These on-page scenes are generally called either “spice” or “smut,” and they’re a key building block of romantasy.
But a romance novel isn’t a work of erotica. The question as a writer, then, is how do you decide how far is too far when it comes to writing your own spicy scenes?
Historically describing “obscene” material, the term “smut” has been enthusiastically reclaimed by some members of the bookish community, who enjoy the explicitly spicy scenes in the books they’re reading (and often wouldn’t mind a few more of them!). Other people take umbrage to the term, arguing that it’s a way to delegitimize good writing that happens to be targeted at women.
Tired of people labelling A Court of Thorns and Roses as “fairy smut” and The Empyrean as “dragon smut,” Instagram user @sweetaspajda did the math. Just how much of these popular romantasy books is actually taken up by explicit scenes? She discovered that the mega-popular Fourth Wing and Iron Flame have just 3 percent spicy scenes. The books in the Court of Thorns and Roses series, meanwhile, range from 2 to 5 percent; the “smuttiest” among them is still only 10 percent spice to 90 percent plot.
Erotica, on the other hand, is a book where intimate activity is the primary driver of the story. If you tried to take that out and present a clean copy, the book just . . . wouldn’t make sense anymore. The interwoven nature of spice and plot is really the more important factor distinguishing the two genres.
Increasing Your Spice Tolerance
As an author, if you want to dive into romantasy, I recommend reading some of the genre’s most popular titles to get a sense for how they handle on-page lovemaking. Generally, there’s a huge amount of emotional build-up before that level of intimacy happens — the act is meaningful to both the characters and the plot, and it’s not overwhelmingly long. (Anything over five pages is probably too much.)
These scenes are also written through the lens of both fantasy and romance. That means it’s less important that they be 100 percent realistic, and more important that they be sensual and romantic. While not all romantasy readers are women, these books are generally written with the “woman’s gaze” in mind. That means these scenes are almost always from the woman’s point of view, and that female pleasure is centred in the experience.
Many authors shy away from graphic terminology and a full play-by-play. Instead, think of it as an extension of the other romantic elements of your book. When in doubt, air on the side of euphemisms and a “zoomed-out” camera.
Young Adult Romantasy
If you want to write romantasy but aren’t comfortable with the spice, it is possible, but you have to keep in mind that the trend right now leans heavily toward spice. None of the top-selling romantasy books are closed-door (taking place off the page or “fading to black”); in fact, when I tried to find some titles to recommend, most of the titles were debated as to whether they were romantasy at all or were just fantasy novels that had some romance elements.
The one place you can still find non-spice or closed-door romantasy is in the young adults market. The popular Powerless trilogy by Lauren Roberts or the Divine Rivals duology by Rebecca Ross are two examples of bestsellers in this sphere. There is an ongoing conversation about the place of spice in young adult stories (and whether it has one at all), but as a general rule, what physical intimacy there is fades to black after kissing if the target market is teenagers.
If you’re writing YA romantasy, remember that these stories are about, and for, teenagers. That means they’re going to have more of a focus on coming-of-age and coming into one’s power.
A Hot Ticket
Romantasy is a hot ticket right now. If you want to write in this genre, remember that you should be doing it because you’re inspired by the genre tropes, not just because it’s a good market fit. Read a lot and find the stories that really speak to you. There’s a huge range of styles, plots, and even tropes within this genre.
Enemies to lovers. Fake dating. Fated mates. The sky’s the limit when it comes to romantasy.
And don’t forget worldbuilding! This may be a romance novel, but it’s also a fantasy. The story has to make sense, has to have strong magical elements, and has to keep the reader hooked from the first page to the last period—just like any other book on the shelf.
Have fun writing fantastical characters that fall in love!
Wren Handman is an editor with FriesenPress and author of the romantasy novel Command the Tides. She’s also written novels in many other genres, including the YA paranormal Havoc & Happiness and the paranormal thriller A Midnight So Deadly. Find her at https://wrenhandman.com.
