If you’ve been a fan of fantasy, you’ve probably heard about the romantasy subgenre that’s been trending like wildfire. Fantasy has always encompassed the ideas of romance, and there are lots of fantasy stories that have romance subplots, but the romantasy realm has evolved the idea of romance and blended it with the world of fantasy. However, there is a big difference between the two and today’s post will cover romantasy vs fantasy with romance and why the difference exists.
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What is Romantasy?
Romantasy is basically the combination of the words “romance” and “fantasy.” It’s a subgenre that I’ve discussed before on my blog, but it’s basically a story where the romance is the central point of the plot. The romance is intertwined within the fantasy world, and the story itself follows a plot that is heavily influenced by the romance. Oftentimes, the fantasy elements of the story are not as important as the romance, but you still need to include plenty of fantasy in a romantasy story.
What Makes a Romantasy Story?
There are many things within the realm of romantasy that are pretty central to the subgenre. One of those things is the fact that romance is central to the plot. The romantic relationship is the focus of the story and the overall plot revolves around how they interact and fall in love.
Additionally, the fantasy setting is a must in romantasy. The world is a fantasy and it has to be world built as any other fantasy world is as well. You can skip out on some things and focus a bit more on the elements that matter, but I always recommend that you do a full world building process as if you were writing an encyclopedia about your world.
You don’t have to actually write an encyclopedia… unless you want to.
Romantasy novels are also more character-driven and they are very tailored to the target audience. Many of the more recent releases in this subgenre are very heavy on including tropes like enemies to lovers, rivals to lovers, dark academia, one bed, touch her and you die, etc… The key thing to remember with tropes is to not write for the trope but rather to integrate the tropes you want to add without pushing your story forcefully in the direction of said trope.
Some Romantasy Books
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas is a great example of a romantasy. This series is also basically considered sort of like the perfect example of romantasy. The romance between Feyre and Tamlin and then Rhysand is basically central to the plot and the way she connects with the love interest and their adventures together are the main story. There is a fantasy world which is relatively well-developed as well, so it all ties together.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is another romantasy that’s been trending on TikTok especially lately. Violet and her time training to become a dragon rider mixes with a romance between her and Xander and the romance itself is the main portion of the story. There’s a good amount of fantasy in it as well, and it has a lot of dystopian vibes too (think Dauntless from Divergent).
What is Fantasy With Romance?
Fantasy with romance is basically just a fancy way of saying a fantasy book that has a romantic subplot somewhere in there. The romance exists in the context of the story and it’s there, but it’s certainly not the main point of the story. The romance is secondary to the main plot and it could enhance the plot, but if it were removed, the plot wouldn’t change far too much.
This tends to be where most fantasy stories lie, which is why they’re not really classified as romantasy even if they have romance in them.
Fantasy always has complex world building that is much more central to the plot of the story. This sort of detailed world building includes things like cultures, lore, magic systems, languages, and so much more.
Additionally, fantasy stories often appeal to wider audiences of readers than just romantasy, as even if there is a romantic subplot, the focus is more on some other type of plot line. It also works for readers that like romance, readers that enjoy romance every now and then, and readers that don’t mind romance in their stories without it being just a romance.
Some Fantasy Books that Have Romance
The Fallen Age Saga by Zainah Yousef is my series and it includes some flairs of romance here and there, but the overall plot of the story is not focused primarily on the romantic elements. My series focuses heavily on the war, the ancient conflict behind the plot, and the thriller aspects of the story.
The Folk of the Air by Holly Black is one of my favorite series out there and is primarily a fantasy story with a lot of political intrigue and it happens to have some romance in it. The romance is quite short in the series, but it’s very well written.
Romantasy vs Fantasy With Romance
There are some things I’ve listed, but I want to put them in more context so it’s easier to identify precisely what the differences are between romantasy and fantasy with romance.
The Plot
Firstly, the plot. In romantasy stories, the plot is driven primarily by the romance of the story. Everything that happens around the romance serves to add to the romance and build that relationship up. The conflicts tend to pertain to things that affect the romance between these two characters. It’s the most significant portion of the story and it’s the end-goal of the writer. For example, in Heartless Hunter, the main plot is the romance between Gideon Sharpe and Rune Winters.
Fantasy with romance is not driven by the romance. The romance serves as a subplot to the main plot, which is whatever the story is being driven by. For example, in The Fallen Age Saga, the main plot is the ancient war between the demons and alien planets that is now impacting Earth.
World Building
Romantasy stories tend to develop a world to support the romantic plot of the story. The world building tends to take a bit of a backseat in order to give room for the romance to blossom in the story. This is personally one of the reasons why romantasy is not my all-time favorite fantasy subgenre, as I do prefer intense, engaging world building over just romance. Some romantasy novels do a good job of world building though, so keep in mind that if you do want to write romantasy, don’t skip the world building! It’s still important as you’re writing a fantasy story.
Fantasy stories that include romantic subplots are essentially just any standard fantasy story. You need to ensure that your story has extensive, cohesive, intricate, detailed and interesting world building because the way you design your world can take your story to a completely different level.
I will say that world building is important no matter what subgenre you’re writing in fantasy. If your world doesn’t feel like it’s connected, then it will bother your readers who are expecting interesting world building.
Characters and Character Development
Romantasy often takes stories with character development that surrounds the romantic relationship. The protagonists of the story tend to grow and change alongside the romantic relationship and the relationship affects them and their personalities.
Meanwhile, fantasy with romance subplots tends to have a lot more other ways that characters develop. Romance can certainly be an aspect of that, but their development, growth and change is done mainly through conflict, interactions in their fantasy world, war, battle, quests and more.
You can include these things in romantasy, of course, but romantasy focuses and hones in more on the romantic element of each thing. Romantasy tends to attract romance readers more than just fantasy readers, so you tend to find that romantasy reader bases expect to see primarily romance as the driving factor behind most of the things happening in the plot.
Why Readers Like Romantasy
Readers who enjoy romantasy tend to prefer romance stories and they like the emotional engagement behind a romantically driven narrative. Romance readers enjoy the tug of romantic stories and the conflicts and the payoff of seeing two people fall in love, especially when the story is set up with a slow-burn romance. Romantasy is also really popular because it provides elements of fantasy while still maintaining a romance story at its core.
There are many readers of romantasy that don’t necessarily enjoy the pure fantasy stories with tons of crazy world building and would rather see a story set in a fantasy world that’s still romance. This is a perfectly valid opinion and that’s why the romantasy subgenre is as big as it is today.
Why Readers Like Fantasy (With Maybe Some Romance)
Readers tend to enjoy fantasy for a lot of reasons, and I can personally attest to many of these. I am a stickler for fantasy stories with crazy world building, especially if everything is pretty much made from scratch. I also love stories in fantasy because they explore tons of things like morality, politics, war, and the human struggle. I also like to have romance in fantasy, but I don’t like fantasy that overshadows the plot and that’s why I tend to prefer if a story has a subplot of romance. I do enjoy some romance stories, but I sometimes want things that are more rooted in darker themes, like grimdark books.
Conclusion
Romantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that mainly focuses on a romantic plot and the element of romance, while fantasy tends to not focus on romance. Fantasy can include a romantic subplot, but this does not mean it is a romantasy as the romance is merely something in the background (if it’s there at all).
Romantasy and general fantasy have wide reader bases but it’s important to understand the expectations of both groups as you can’t really write a traditional fantasy story and market it to romantasy readers, since they’ll expect that the story will revolve around romance. At the same time, you might not be able to get readers of say, grimdark, to read romantasy because they don’t really read that sort of story.
If you want to learn how to plot your story, check out this post. If you want advice more tailored for romance, then check this post out as well.
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