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Romantasy is a spark of creativity and newness!

As someone Heavy into SFF and with a wife who has a masters in library science, to me romantasy are generally fantasy romance. the majority of the ones I have experienced the Fantastical worlds are more an excuse for romance than romance happening in a well thought out world.

(This might just be a function of my own neurodivergence though because I do get very distracted by certain gaps in world building)

As someone who grew up reading epic fantasy, I kinda hate the implication romance isn't worldbuilt just as well. I think it's all perspective. Like honestly I think most epic fantasy classics have gaps in worldbuilding, it just depends on which parts of it you are focused on!

Romance arcs have always been part of fantasy. I have decided personally that it is romantasy if the pairing gets a sex scene and a HEA

Even freaking Tolkein has romance!

No sex scene though that's not the Tolkein vibe

And the dividing line between those two things has always been blurry. In the '00s and '10s the fight was "what is Urban Fantasy and what is Paranormal Romance" and it's complex! UF is a subgenre of SFF w/ that genre's expectations. PNR is a subgenre of Romance, same thing. Simple, right? No. LOL

The main hang-up for genre romance is usually: does the central relationship have a happy ending. But even that can be complex. Does it have to be a HEA in a single book? Ilona Andrews' Hidden Legacy is a fantastic romance trilogy, imo. But you don't get the happy ending until the 3rd book.

Something can meet all the genre conventions of both and function as either SFF or Romance equally. But if you sell a romance reader a book that they expect to end happily and then one of the romantic protags dies... they will run you over with their car. (Only mild hyperbole.)

I was having a conversation recently about whether romance or fantasy an easier entry point for romantasy. I thought romance, but maybe I'm wrong?

I mean it depends on what kind of romantasy!! lol Fantasy may be a better entry point to read a romantasy by someone who is writing romantic fantasy. Romance for someone who is writing fantasy romance. Folks are doing both!

I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. I've written fantasy and I've written romance. I mostly read fantasy these days, and a fantasy without any romance in it is less engaging to me, but I haven't really liked much of what's published as "romantasy" outside the cozy subgenre.

I can't even put my finger on why I don't like it, other than maybe what I've read is part of the glut when they're buying all they can that fits a niche and they're aiming at going viral on TikTok. I think my issue was that it was neither good fantasy nor good romance.

The worldbuilding was laughable and the relationship made no sense. The plot was at "save the world" levels but the characters couldn't keep their hands off each other during the climactic action. I've decided what I like is fantasy with a subplot that has romantic potential.

I was literally having this conversation the other day. I miss the days of UF v PNR. UF was for when I wanted fantasy with a romantic side plot that generally smashed the spicy to black. PNR is when I wanted romance in a fantasy setting with all the spicy details.

Romantasy though feels like it falls somewhere between Fantasy and Romance (so aptly named lol).

But for romantacy, the romance itself feels like a driving factor for the plot, similar to a PNR. But most of the prose is dedicated to the fantasy plotline. So the spicy scenes in (the limited) romantasy I have read lacks the character development of a PNR and just feels plopped in.