Romance or Fantasy?

[WhiteFeather]

Which one do you like more? And why?
I'll go first, fantasy, because my life has a severe deficiency of romance and I don't want read a love story and feel depressed about my existence.

 

[MasterY001]

To read, fantasy. It's one of my favorite genres and it's quite easy to get in and out of a story.

To write, romance, but not to fantasize about living a life with one. I write it to develop my own romantic skills in hopes of putting them to use in the future and to learn what I'd like and dislike in a potential partner.

 

[Corty]

Having a romance option as a sub-plot is what turns good stories into great stories.

 

[WhiteFeather]

Having a romance option as a sub-plot is what turns good stories into great stories.

Yeah, but romance as a subplots rarely done justice. It often feels like annoying filler.

 

[Corty]

Yeah, but romance as a subplots rarely done justice. It often feels like annoying filler.

Because those writers only had relationships with their mothers. Or not even that.

 

[LilRora]

Ideally, both.

If I had to choose one, probably fantasy. A problem I have with a lot of romance stories is they often seem to hyperfixate on romance and neglect many other aspects of the story. If it doesn't have that issue though, romance is also great.

 

[RainingFish]

Yeah, but romance as a subplots rarely done justice. It often feels like annoying filler.

I don't think romance has to be epic. At least that's not really my preference. I kind of like it when a relationship is just a positive (I prefer positive relationships) part of the MC's life. Usually, I think it's good for the MC to have some things in their life other than the main plot. Maybe they are a foodie, maybe they play music, or maybe they have a relationship. Having a little something apart from the main plot makes them seem more human. Too much might take away from the main story, but it doesn't require that much.

 

[Zagaroth]

Having a romance option as a sub-plot is what turns good stories into great stories.

That's certainly the option I am going for, and it's a strong selling point to me, for a fantasy to have a romance plot that occupies a significant space in the story. As in, if you remove the romance, the story changes and goes different directions as motivations change, and there is no easy substitution of a stolen McGuffin or something in place of a Damsel in Distress.

The relationship should be deeper and more complex than that.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

I'd be more likely to click a romance w/o the fantasy than a fantasy w/o the romance.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

You do know Romantasy is a very popular genre on Amazon right now, right? A merging of the two?

And really, Romance IS often a kind of fantasy anyway... though I prefer fantasy without the romance, I tend to write it with.

 

[StoneInky]

Romance sucks. The love interest is usually reduced to being just 'a love interest', instead of being their own person. I always feel sorry for them.

 

[Macha]

They are the same thing.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Both are a fantasy not obtainable in reality, so what's the question?

 

[SurfAngel_1031]

Which one do you like more? And why?
I'll go first, fantasy, because my life has a severe deficiency of romance and I don't want read a love story and feel depressed about my existence.

Romance. It makes your heart go gooey and sometimes even makes you cry. It's that touch of excitement and reality where you want the same lover's bubble bath that the characters are in. -sigh- I've read Fantasy pretty much my entire life (a very long time since I'm over 50).

Having said that? I write the combination of the two. I have my lovers in a supernatural Earth and it's got fantasy all through it.

 

[Garolymar]

I used to write a lot of horrible fantasy romance when I was a teenager. Looking back on it now it was basically self inserting OP stories with my jester waifu following me around on adventures and bothering the hell out of me in that sort of endearing way. I think I would implode if I ever read those old stories again.

 

[Golden_Hyde]

Both.
Both is good.

 

[Cookiez_N_Potionz]

Fantasy, but I've wrote a Romance before just to challenge myself and I think I did pretty good.

 

[DeoxyNacid]

Which one do you like more? And why?
I'll go first, fantasy, because my life has a severe deficiency of romance and I don't want read a love story and feel depressed about my existence.

Yes

 

[HisDivineShadow]

Having a romance option as a sub-plot is what turns good stories into great stories.

Amen to that!
To me, a bit of romance in a story is like a pinch of salt, it just makes everything better.

 

[SarahsBuzzard]

Honestly? Depends on the fantasy and depends on the romance. Both can vary widely

Every fantasy is different. How much magic is there in your world? How does it work? How different are your magical races? How do the cultures clash up against each other or work together? Economics of kingdoms. Political structure. Even if you're going vanilla with elves, princesses and the like... there's so many ways you can break it down when you think about it long enough. And consequently, depending on the mechanics of your world and your author voice, you may vibe with one novel more than another. That's what I find, at least.

And the same goes with romance. There's so many different kinds of people. So many different kinds of ways for people to love each other and fall in love with one another. And it's a really personal thing to write about. Even if a love story is done really well, some people aren't going to gel with your perceptions of love itself. Which is inherently kind of scary.

It's been a minute since I read a love story that really hit me. But the ones that do usually rise pretty high in my esteem. And I respect every author's spin on fantasy if they do a spin on it I wasn't expecting.

TLDR; I can't choose.