I’ve mentioned this before in a couple of posts, but I’ve never actually written a romantasy before. I’ve written fantasy with romantic subplots, but never a fantasy where the romance took center stage.

The Name and the Key trilogy is my foray into writing romantasy. I wanted to challenge myself by having a love story be the driving force of the trilogy, to make an incredible loving and respectful couple, and to have people in a swoon long after closing the book. I also am looking at this from a business perspective. I have learned the hard way that a well-written, well-loved book just isn’t enough to be successful. So, I fully admit, I’m writing a bit more to market this time around.

I knew romantasy was a hot genre based on the wild success of authors like Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas. And I’ve tried to get into reading it but haven’t found that magical book that warms my heart…I’ve DNF’d every romantasy I’ve tried. This makes me wonder if I’m cut out to even write romantasy if I can’t find a romantasy I like.

But there are romances out there I like, and there are fantasies out there I like…and there are fantasies with romances I like. So why can’t I settle on a romantasy? I have lots on my TBR and in my Kindle library; I just haven’t gotten to them yet. But so far, everything’s been a strikeout.

I watch a lot of YouTube videos from reading critics and writers to complement my knowledge, and I started looking for videos critical of romantasy to see if I was alone out there in the world.

I’m a long-time viewer of Willow Talks Books. She is a trans author and critic (and former teacher!) based out of Scotland who is always a joy to watch, and I love her criticisms of books, trends, tropes, you name it. I am particularly a fan of her romantasy videos. For lovers of romantasy, they are quite harsh and may even generate a defensive response, but as someone who has issues with a lot of the romantasy I’ve attempted to read, much of what she says strikes a chord with me.

This one is probably the most blunt of her romantasy videos:

It really educated me, though. It showed me the shortcomings of romantasy and dangerous messaging that can come out of the genre. It helped me realize why I thought so many of the male romantic leads were kind of…trash.

Willow followed up months later with another video on romantasy, but this time she talks about good romantasy books to counter the ones she critiques. I’m excited to say I have copies of the good ones; I just haven’t gotten around to reading them yet because I’m in a bit of a slump and am only reading BL at the moment (which can also be a toxic genre). Rachel Gillig’s The Knight and the Moth, which I happily own, got rave reviews from Willow as to hitting all the right buttons with romantasy fans.

So Willow is not all negative–she’s just really passionate and honest about books. And I’ve learned so much from these two videos: most importantly, how not to write a romance.

I’m also a subscriber to author Abbie Emmons’ channel. She is all about helping “writer’s dreams come true” and has a sizeable catalog of videos to help writers hone their craft.

I found videos from Abbie that work well for writing romantasy characters (the FMC and MMC)…in that these are videos that also tell you how not to write. These are a bit more lighthearted and Abbie uses the queen of true love and romance, Jane Austen, as a counterpoint to the overwrought tropes and stereotypes appearing in current fiction. As I watched these videos, I couldn’t help but think they all came from romantasy.

Out of all the YouTube videos I’ve checked out, these videos by Willow and Abbie have been the most memorable and helpful to me when it comes to writing romantasy, precisely because they are critical and show you what doesn’t work. It’s much easier for me to know what not to do after viewing these.

Right now, my rough draft of Book One is finished and is in the hands of beta readers, who will take a month to read through and report on the book. I have asked for them to tell me if there is enough “romance” in the book to qualify the book as romantasy. As the book is YA, I am light on the spice, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t heat or romance. My beta readers will let me know if the book needs more work or not. I felt really good when I finished the draft; but perhaps the beta readers will pop my balloon with a needle and I’ll crash down to earth.