The Hottest Post-Pandemic Trend
And why that trend is here to stay...
Last week The Ripped Bodice Bookstore in Culver City, California, closed its doors to host a class I taught on Writing Romantasy. The event was packed. Forty people attended a weeknight event focused on the hottest genre in romance.
Why is Romantasy having a moment?
The mash-up of fantasy and romance is not a new concept. Since the 90s, shows and movies like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf, and the X-Files have tapped into the unique power of entertainment to reimagine reality in a way that allows the consumer to make sense of the world. Shifters and werewolves, aliens and vampires are escapist entertainment, yes. But they are also enchanting metaphors for common human experiences: being the fish out of water, coming of age, solving the unsolvable puzzle, finding the elusive artifact, or rising as a reluctant hero into one's power or redemption. All with an emotionally resonant promise of romance, love, or sex.
We're in a unique time for fantasy-based entertainment, but nothing about what's happening is new. When the real world feels like it's gone to crap, fantasy allows us to create chaos that we can manage. Consumers crave content that promises the monsters will be slayed and those things we value most will triumph in end.
Depressions, recessions, and economic slumps of all varieties have consistently led to growth in other spaces: art, writing, culture, gaming.
During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt created the Federal Art Project (FAP) to fund the creation of art at both a national and community level. While not produced in the style of art many people know him for, Jackson Pollock’s 1935 painting The Cotton Pickers was a FAP-supported work. Mark Rothko and Charles Henry Ashton also produced art in this era as recipients of FAP funds.
https://www.nga.gov/learn/teachers/lessons-activities/uncovering-america/great-depression.html
If you have any doubt that the rise in fantasy is a reaction to our political and social climate, look elsewhere: to movies, episodic television, video games. You'll find countless examples of new content that taps into the same archetypes and flavors as romantasy books. Is it any wonder streaming gaming sensation Critical Role has made fantasy table top gaming so cool that they sold out Wembley Arena to play a live game of Dungeons & Dragons in front of an audience? Critical Role has completely eliminated the stigma early generations of players faced due to misconceptions about the tabletop roleplaying game's magic, lore, monsters, and combat. Other industries are finally seeing what romance has understood for decades: fantasy can be wholesome, fun, inclusive, and mainstream. And so very profitable.
What falls within the umbrella of Romantasy?
Whether the universe is epic (before modern technology, what most typically think of "medival") or urban (contemporary fantasy, can include modern tech like cell phones and internet), romantasy comes in many flavors: steampunk, paranormal, vampires, wolves, monsters, shifters, fae, space opera, science fantasy, and sci-fi, fairy tale retellings, myths reimagined…and the most original genre mash-ups we've seen. Take Xiran Jay Zhao's Iron Widow. A #1 New York Times bestseller, Iron Widow includes futuristic technology at work in a culture still bound by painful and problematic ancient social and cultural norms which feel all too contemporary. (It is, by the way, one of the best books I've ever read.)
Romantasy can be defined by inclusion, not exclusion, which means that there truly is a seat for everyone at the table. Combine that with the explosion of the social media creator culture, and fandoms are now empowered to not only consume but to participate in their favorite universes. Fan art, sprayed edges of books, and derivative products make the market impact of romantasy much farther-reaching than any other genre in publishing.
HEA for the next generation of bestsellers.
Romance novels allow consumers to reclaim their power: power over intimacy and consent, sexuality and expression, identity and family. Combine the infinite creativity of fantasy with the underlying genre covenants of romance... It's no wonder that national media outlets are taking note of the clever new moniker "romantasy."
But romantasy isn't the wild west, anything goes. The essential technical foundations of storytelling are even more important in romantasy, where the author balances life and death stakes, politics, magic systems, social issues, economies, all while creating characters with backstories, wounds, goals, motivations, and complications that produce complex character arcs and satisfying story beats. The sell-out class at The Ripped Bodice is just one example of the increasing demand for romantasy craft instruction, and the desire for more authors, both aspiring and established, to join this space.
We are in a painful time in history. Our bodies and homes, our health and politics...There is almost no relief from the violence, distrust, uncertainty, and instability in our lives. The power of romantasy is the empowering of the consumer. Fantasy doesn't have to glorify misogyny, abuse, racism, homophobia, and the stereotypes that have long dominated the space. Romantasy, despite the clever "new" label, is not new, but the increased attention it's receiving is long overdue. Romantasy delivers on what it promises: monsters will be slayed and true love will conquer all. And for writers and readers, the long-overdue recognition of the market impact of romantasy is the real happy ever after.