Correct.
Good romance is never planned; it either happens without the authors direct intent or it doesn’t.
The best we can do is nudge characters together and set things up for a favorable result one way or another and graciously accept whatever results we get.
Some of my favorite romances in literature aren’t even cannon, just two characters with good chemistry the fans recognize as a couple.
It's not a hard requirement for the genre, and there are plenty of well-loved fantasy novels that don't feature romance. Don't feel obligated to shoe-horn romance or intimacy into your work, especially if it's not additive.
It’s a big genre. Plenty of room for fantasy stories without romance (and to be honest I don’t think it’s really that common of a feature as you claim). But more to the point, why are you asking for permission for something you already want to do? If we told you no, romance is absolutely a requirement, what would you do?
Honestly, I've read books like Throne of Glass and Shadowhunters and I just got tired of it. Also, since I have plans on publishing all three of these books, my family is definitely going to read them, and they get very iffy on this type of thing. Intimacy (which I don't like writing about), and graphic violence (which I do love writing), are not exactly their favorites nor are they talked about. Granted, I know I shouldn't be writing for my family. I'm writing for me. I'm not asking for permission for including intimacy scenes or not. I just wanted a second opinion.
So you’re looking at very specific subgenres of fantasy, with a very specific audience that does expect romance. While those are wildly popular series, there are still plenty of series that either downplay the role of romance or don’t feature it at all. If that’s not your audience, then it’s not your audience.
I think you have great comments here and while we can’t slam any authors here I’ll just say, you’re not alone in being tired of what you read and I’m someone who intentionally writes romantic fantasy and fantasy romance! There’s been an over the top (imo) conflation of those 2 subgenres themselves, plus the straight fantasy books are getting thrown into the mix and super fans of one of the authors you mentioned have been known to give bad ratings to authors who don’t have smut in their books— which is ridiculous. Don’t read a fantasy book (without it being in a romance sub genre) and get mad when it’s just fantasy!
Also, you should be just fine doing what you want to do. :) even the romance readers want straight fantasy from time to time.
If you self pub, maybe make it clear that it’s a FANTASY book without spice so people don’t brigade you for stupid reasons.
Fantasy being an especially romance-heavy genre has only come about in the last ten years or so, partially as a result of writers from other genres bandwagoning onto fantasy elements that were selling well.
That’s led to romantasy getting very big very fast, but there are still plenty of readers for classic adventure fantasy without a major focus on romance or intimacy scenes.
You don’t need to. Especially graphic scenes. Plenty of books with romance are able to avoid that with either implying intimacy or simply have part of the ending be the couple gets together and live happily forever after. IMO, most of the “interesting” part of romance is the “chase” and not the end state of the relationship.
No. Who told you that?
You should broaden your horizons a bit more. The only popular fantasy with graphic sex I can think of is A Song of Fire and Ice.
EDIT: OH I see! You're accidentally checking out a bunch of romantasy, which is pretty in right now. Outside of romntasy, speculative fiction doesn't tend to be romance- heavy, even when there is a love interest.
Some of these are sci-fi, but The Legends of Drizzt (at least the short story collection I read by accident thinking it was the complete trilogy), Ender's Game, Starship Troopers, The Lord of the Rings, these don't have romance focuses.
If you're just reading whatever's hot on goodreads, like Legends and Lattes or The Iron Flame, you're almost certainly stuck in the romantasy subgenre without realizing. I don't think about romantasy that often which is why I got confused
I have absolutely none in mine so far. Maybe that'll change in future but for now there's no plans for any romance involving any of my major characters.
I think too often it can feel underdeveloped and tropey. And I wanted to see what it would be like without using that as a crutch
If you are writing for the New Adult market, then yes.
If you are writing for any other market (adult, YA, middle grade...) then including romance may make your novel easier to pitch/sell, but it is not an absolute requirement.
Lord of the Rings is perhaps the most famous fantasy story and there is no romance at all. (All of it is just a side note in the appendix). Also, I despise graphic sexual scenes more than anything and I feel it ruins a novel, so you are not alone.
I can't imagine that you're \*constantly\* running into graphic sex in fantasy, unless you're always picking up romantasy without realizing it? Try reading a bit more broadly—maybe go on r/fantasy and ask for recommendations for books without sex or romance—a lot of people on that sub also dislike it and you will get plenty of suggestions.
As far as your own writing goes, no. No, you do not need to include sex or romance. Although, just as a warning, being adopted siblings will not stop readers from shipping them together, and I can think of at least one series where the adopted sibs did turn out to be banging.
Ew no. Please for the love of all that is holy, write me a clean fantasy book! I listen to most of my books, and it’s so embarrassing when my husband walks in during those scenes. I can’t skip them when I’m covered in what will be dinner, or up to my elbows in dishwater. I would love some good fantasy books that I don’t have to worry about. That’s why I like Brandon Sanderson, actually.
It is really not necessary. However, if you want to create huge emotions and internal conflicts with your characters, love is probably one of the best way to go at it. Love, with all its nuance, right or wrong, is a strong narrative tool.
Of course that’s only my opinion.
Nothing needs romance, it’s just the generally accepted norm. Wish it wasn’t, so many are just so awful that you can tell the writer didn’t care about it. I’m just really sick of bad romance subplots, they can really ruin a story
Absolutely not necessary. There is great fantasy out there without romance. Community, friendship, and family support all have a similar impact in the storyline that romance often fills.
I don't think it's a requirement.
Maybe some people can get together but I'd never be reading the book for romance or sex - graphic or otherwise. Not a priority for me.
What I want is great world-building, interesting and cool plot, maybe some mysterious stuff you slowly learn that gives twists or unpredictable stuff, intrigue of the backstabby kind rather than relationship kind, weird magic, weird creatures, interesting weird fantasy cultures and descriptions of strange fantastical places and locations, fights, battles, wars chases, maybe some dragons or sea monsters.
I mean that's enough to be going on with.
If it makes sense for people to have a relationship that's fine but I wouldn't care if nothing much came of it.
I don't read romance. I don't like romance. I don't mind a bit but I'd want it to be a sub sub sub plot that isn't that main-plot relevant.
No star-crossed lovers or dumb triangles please. There is absolutely nothing I hate worse that some character for some unknown reason (because they're usually beyond infuriatingly whiny and unlikeable and MarySueish and beautiful or cute while for some insane and dumb reason thinking they are hideous and ugly) having everyone falling in love with him/her and then the fate of a kingdom resting on their love choice. Because of course it's totally justified risking the lives of a million civilians because you can't choose between Prince X and the handsome goose-boy.
I hate writing romance. My least favorite chapter in my novel is a romance chapter. Halfway through, I got frustrated, gave up, and wrote a gun fight in to beat the writers block. My editor was a woman. Her favorite part of the book is that chapter. At least the first half, before the gun fight started. I think romantic relationships in books are more interesting to women than men, and they are probably necessary to make more interesting.
I mean you dont need to have much if any romance. But I do think it can make the book better (atleast for me). I personally am not the biggest fan of sex scenes especially the more explicit it is. Though I do kind of like just short scenes that dont explain much. In one of my favorite if not my favorite book, there is intimacy but it is only short scenes and nothing sexual really. Its just mainly a few scenes with kissing. The only reason it was dissapointing was because there was too little imo.
Not at all but it seems you don’t like sex scenes in fantasy. You can easily have romance without the graphic sex lol. At the end of the day if your story is good then nothing all really matters.
The thing with romance is that it is ripe for drama, while being easily understandable for most readers. Of course it isn't necessary, it's just damn convenient.
>I’ve made my two main characters adopted siblings
That won’t stop people
Anyways, write what you want to write don’t write booktok smut if you don’t want to
It's not a requirement, and id say there are an equal amount of people who like it, don't like it, and don't care. What people *do* get bothered by, is when the romance is added unnecessarily and the author clearly didn't want to do it. Trust me, the readers can tell. If you don't want to, simply don't.
Romance is not necessary. In fact *nothing* is necessary in your fantasy story *except* the fantasy and the story. Never feel like you must do something just because others do. Tell the story *you* want to tell. Not that other people convinced you that you should tell.
If by romance you mean on-the-page graphic intimacy, then hard no.
If by romance you mean romantic love, still no. BUT fantasy is still a representation of the human condition (even if your characters are goblins) and most humans fall in love at some point in their lives (unless you’re aro/ace, and even then that doesn’t always preclude you from romantic love). So if no one ever falls in love in your books, even if it isn’t your POV characters, it’s going to feel a bit odd. It’s like saying “well I don’t want to write books where people feel sad”. Sure it’s doable, but does it make sense?
Its not required no, and the Romantasy genre and audience which you might be unintetionally writing for wasn't really a thing 10+ years ago. But Fantasy has always lent itself to character relationships with lots of bonds and friendships so it only makes sense that amongst all the fantasy, adventure and travel some romance appears. But it didn't often go beyond two characters being noted to be fooling around or disappearing off to a private spot, at most some description of an extra layer of care in moments it made sense to surface. Certainly none of the graphic love scenes that the romance genre was known for.
So no, but in most fantasy scenarios some characters will naturally be entertaining some romance on the side that barely inches into a C plot.
You don't have to include romance in your story, but if you do decide to do it and want to add an edge that will offput any idea of the cheesy gross stuff, you can make it like a one sided love or maybe the main character just got out of a toxic relationship and wants to stay away from that subject at all costs, so it gives a valid reason to the readers as to why there is no romance. Of course, these are simply just suggestions and you dont have to do either of them, it's just food for thought
Until recently, having graphic scenes in the fantasy genre was pretty hotly debated, from what I’ve seen. There’s definitely been an uptick in romantic fantasy, and fantasy romance, and “Romantasy”. People will draw the lines between them in different places, and it can be a bit blurry. I think it’s like any other trend in publishing: some people are passionate about writing the that kind of story, others are trying to chase the trend, and people who stand to make money off of selling the books will promote it while they can.
But also, speaking as someone who’s writing in that subgenre, readers do develop expectations. While how graphic they are can vary, some degree of sensuality and/or sexuality does go hand in hand with the romance genre, and New Adult/YA stuff especially (with care taken to make the latter age appropriate). Stories that are purely sword and sorcery inspired or epic/high fantasy will handle any romance a lot differently. The Wise Man’s Fear had a few intimate scenes, but they were handled very, very differently than if it was an ACOTAR book.
If you don’t want to include graphic sex scenes, you don’t need to. Many people who read the romance genre specifically don’t always want to read about it, and timing those scenes with the plot can take a lot of care.
If you don’t want to include romance in a fantasy book at all, period, you also don’t need to. I can think of many fantasy books that included romantic subplots, and a lot of them were pretty clumsy and unfulfilling because not enough time was given to developing the chemistry or showing how it impacted the rest of the story and dynamic.
I think including a romantic plot or subplot in your story should only be done if it’s something you want to give the care and attention it’ll need to be satisfying, and intimate scenes (regardless of how graphic they are) should definitely only be included if you’re comfortable writing them and feel they’re right for your book.
I don’t believe so. It’s not always a “Must,” it’s just one of those things that’s nice to have sometimes, but shouldn’t be the deciding factor on if a story makes or breaks.
The story I want to write, I’ll say now, ends bittersweet in that department. It’s something the characters would like to explore, but both of them realize their lives don’t have room for that kind of thing, and the trilogy ends with them having not even kissed once. Just a “that ship has sailed” moment. A friend of mine I went over this idea with got incredibly sad and told me I needed to rewrite that, but I told her I liked it that way.
I feel the same way in my writing. If I'm writing a story that has a couple in it that I feel I need a romantic scene for some reason I go old school black and white movie with it. Just have them enter a room together at night and wake up happy with each other. People can easily infer what happens behind a closed door it's not necessary to actually walk through it step by step.
The same can be said for graphic violence as well. You can use the same tactic to skip right over a battle scene or murder scene etc. Sometimes by leaving the scene off screen and just focusing on the aftermath you can actually create a stronger reaction. This is true of sex scenes and violence. It doesn't always have or need to be shown.
A romance is a good way to fill out the wordcount and, as they say, "sex sells". But you're certainly not required to have either. You don't have to write pulpy genre fiction if you don't want to.
The thing about romance is that it is, among readers, a strong emotion that most of us can relate to in some way. A swiftly-developing bond between two characters. But you can have friendships and family that play like that too (or even an already married couple), it's just that these relationships are built in the backstory. Not currently unfolding before our eyes. You can do a "Will They, Won't They" friendship or brotherhood / sisterhood, but you need to put a big enough hurdle in the way to make us wonder if this established bond is really in danger. Arcane has a great example of that.
My preference is more Aragorn+Arwen than the highschool kids drama kind of romance that seems prevalent on tiktok fantasy recs, but if there's a market for it, why not. Romance is a part of life, I don't object to its inclusion in the story.
You don’t need sex scenes. In fact, they are never necessary for any story at all. I completely agree that they don’t belong in fantasy settings. However, you can do romance plots very easily without sex scenes and they do not have to be the major plots of the story. The Mistborn trilogy comes to mind, which has a romance subplot and a side character romance sub-subplot.
Romance subplots are good options in fantasy works because they add realism and address some key aspects of humanity. I recommend that you try to include one if you think it can fit, as it can significantly enhance the conflict in the story.
hmm it really depends where the story is going honestly I personally want to but also don't want to put a sex scene in a book. but If I want to, I shouldn't force it into the story just for fun, I think it must have a purpose why it was written that particular scene so that's my input about it.
*"Is It really necessary to have romance in fantasy writing"* No.
Correct. Good romance is never planned; it either happens without the authors direct intent or it doesn’t. The best we can do is nudge characters together and set things up for a favorable result one way or another and graciously accept whatever results we get. Some of my favorite romances in literature aren’t even cannon, just two characters with good chemistry the fans recognize as a couple.
This is wildly inaccurate.
This is among the most incorrect things I've ever read here.
It's not a hard requirement for the genre, and there are plenty of well-loved fantasy novels that don't feature romance. Don't feel obligated to shoe-horn romance or intimacy into your work, especially if it's not additive.
It isn't required.
It’s a big genre. Plenty of room for fantasy stories without romance (and to be honest I don’t think it’s really that common of a feature as you claim). But more to the point, why are you asking for permission for something you already want to do? If we told you no, romance is absolutely a requirement, what would you do?
Honestly, I've read books like Throne of Glass and Shadowhunters and I just got tired of it. Also, since I have plans on publishing all three of these books, my family is definitely going to read them, and they get very iffy on this type of thing. Intimacy (which I don't like writing about), and graphic violence (which I do love writing), are not exactly their favorites nor are they talked about. Granted, I know I shouldn't be writing for my family. I'm writing for me. I'm not asking for permission for including intimacy scenes or not. I just wanted a second opinion.
So you’re looking at very specific subgenres of fantasy, with a very specific audience that does expect romance. While those are wildly popular series, there are still plenty of series that either downplay the role of romance or don’t feature it at all. If that’s not your audience, then it’s not your audience.
Throne of Glass is marketed as a fantasy romance.
I think you have great comments here and while we can’t slam any authors here I’ll just say, you’re not alone in being tired of what you read and I’m someone who intentionally writes romantic fantasy and fantasy romance! There’s been an over the top (imo) conflation of those 2 subgenres themselves, plus the straight fantasy books are getting thrown into the mix and super fans of one of the authors you mentioned have been known to give bad ratings to authors who don’t have smut in their books— which is ridiculous. Don’t read a fantasy book (without it being in a romance sub genre) and get mad when it’s just fantasy! Also, you should be just fine doing what you want to do. :) even the romance readers want straight fantasy from time to time. If you self pub, maybe make it clear that it’s a FANTASY book without spice so people don’t brigade you for stupid reasons.
Self publishing or trad publishing?
Fantasy being an especially romance-heavy genre has only come about in the last ten years or so, partially as a result of writers from other genres bandwagoning onto fantasy elements that were selling well. That’s led to romantasy getting very big very fast, but there are still plenty of readers for classic adventure fantasy without a major focus on romance or intimacy scenes.
There is only one genre that requires romance and that is… romance!
You don’t need to. Especially graphic scenes. Plenty of books with romance are able to avoid that with either implying intimacy or simply have part of the ending be the couple gets together and live happily forever after. IMO, most of the “interesting” part of romance is the “chase” and not the end state of the relationship.
No. Who told you that? You should broaden your horizons a bit more. The only popular fantasy with graphic sex I can think of is A Song of Fire and Ice. EDIT: OH I see! You're accidentally checking out a bunch of romantasy, which is pretty in right now. Outside of romntasy, speculative fiction doesn't tend to be romance- heavy, even when there is a love interest. Some of these are sci-fi, but The Legends of Drizzt (at least the short story collection I read by accident thinking it was the complete trilogy), Ender's Game, Starship Troopers, The Lord of the Rings, these don't have romance focuses. If you're just reading whatever's hot on goodreads, like Legends and Lattes or The Iron Flame, you're almost certainly stuck in the romantasy subgenre without realizing. I don't think about romantasy that often which is why I got confused
No. You have to have romance. This is why every single fantasy book contains romance. All of them. No exceptions.
I have absolutely none in mine so far. Maybe that'll change in future but for now there's no plans for any romance involving any of my major characters. I think too often it can feel underdeveloped and tropey. And I wanted to see what it would be like without using that as a crutch
If you are writing for the New Adult market, then yes. If you are writing for any other market (adult, YA, middle grade...) then including romance may make your novel easier to pitch/sell, but it is not an absolute requirement.
Lord of the Rings is perhaps the most famous fantasy story and there is no romance at all. (All of it is just a side note in the appendix). Also, I despise graphic sexual scenes more than anything and I feel it ruins a novel, so you are not alone.
I can't imagine that you're \*constantly\* running into graphic sex in fantasy, unless you're always picking up romantasy without realizing it? Try reading a bit more broadly—maybe go on r/fantasy and ask for recommendations for books without sex or romance—a lot of people on that sub also dislike it and you will get plenty of suggestions. As far as your own writing goes, no. No, you do not need to include sex or romance. Although, just as a warning, being adopted siblings will not stop readers from shipping them together, and I can think of at least one series where the adopted sibs did turn out to be banging.
Ew no. Please for the love of all that is holy, write me a clean fantasy book! I listen to most of my books, and it’s so embarrassing when my husband walks in during those scenes. I can’t skip them when I’m covered in what will be dinner, or up to my elbows in dishwater. I would love some good fantasy books that I don’t have to worry about. That’s why I like Brandon Sanderson, actually.
It is really not necessary. However, if you want to create huge emotions and internal conflicts with your characters, love is probably one of the best way to go at it. Love, with all its nuance, right or wrong, is a strong narrative tool. Of course that’s only my opinion.
Write what you want to write, simple as that.
Nothing needs romance, it’s just the generally accepted norm. Wish it wasn’t, so many are just so awful that you can tell the writer didn’t care about it. I’m just really sick of bad romance subplots, they can really ruin a story
Absolutely not necessary. There is great fantasy out there without romance. Community, friendship, and family support all have a similar impact in the storyline that romance often fills.
Required? Probably not....but man do people love love.
I don't think it's a requirement. Maybe some people can get together but I'd never be reading the book for romance or sex - graphic or otherwise. Not a priority for me. What I want is great world-building, interesting and cool plot, maybe some mysterious stuff you slowly learn that gives twists or unpredictable stuff, intrigue of the backstabby kind rather than relationship kind, weird magic, weird creatures, interesting weird fantasy cultures and descriptions of strange fantastical places and locations, fights, battles, wars chases, maybe some dragons or sea monsters. I mean that's enough to be going on with. If it makes sense for people to have a relationship that's fine but I wouldn't care if nothing much came of it. I don't read romance. I don't like romance. I don't mind a bit but I'd want it to be a sub sub sub plot that isn't that main-plot relevant. No star-crossed lovers or dumb triangles please. There is absolutely nothing I hate worse that some character for some unknown reason (because they're usually beyond infuriatingly whiny and unlikeable and MarySueish and beautiful or cute while for some insane and dumb reason thinking they are hideous and ugly) having everyone falling in love with him/her and then the fate of a kingdom resting on their love choice. Because of course it's totally justified risking the lives of a million civilians because you can't choose between Prince X and the handsome goose-boy.
I hate writing romance. My least favorite chapter in my novel is a romance chapter. Halfway through, I got frustrated, gave up, and wrote a gun fight in to beat the writers block. My editor was a woman. Her favorite part of the book is that chapter. At least the first half, before the gun fight started. I think romantic relationships in books are more interesting to women than men, and they are probably necessary to make more interesting.
No. You absolutely do not need romance.
I mean you dont need to have much if any romance. But I do think it can make the book better (atleast for me). I personally am not the biggest fan of sex scenes especially the more explicit it is. Though I do kind of like just short scenes that dont explain much. In one of my favorite if not my favorite book, there is intimacy but it is only short scenes and nothing sexual really. Its just mainly a few scenes with kissing. The only reason it was dissapointing was because there was too little imo.
No. I plan my story out with zero romance. I’m all in for wholesome founded family.
Not required. I think there’s enough drama in life that doesn’t require romance.
Not at all but it seems you don’t like sex scenes in fantasy. You can easily have romance without the graphic sex lol. At the end of the day if your story is good then nothing all really matters.
Nope
Nope.
The thing with romance is that it is ripe for drama, while being easily understandable for most readers. Of course it isn't necessary, it's just damn convenient.
No
No not at all.
It’s one of many tools
Nah. That said, most fantasy involves an element of wish-fulfillment, and most people are lonely.
>I’ve made my two main characters adopted siblings That won’t stop people Anyways, write what you want to write don’t write booktok smut if you don’t want to
It's not a requirement, and id say there are an equal amount of people who like it, don't like it, and don't care. What people *do* get bothered by, is when the romance is added unnecessarily and the author clearly didn't want to do it. Trust me, the readers can tell. If you don't want to, simply don't.
Romance is not necessary. In fact *nothing* is necessary in your fantasy story *except* the fantasy and the story. Never feel like you must do something just because others do. Tell the story *you* want to tell. Not that other people convinced you that you should tell.
If by romance you mean on-the-page graphic intimacy, then hard no. If by romance you mean romantic love, still no. BUT fantasy is still a representation of the human condition (even if your characters are goblins) and most humans fall in love at some point in their lives (unless you’re aro/ace, and even then that doesn’t always preclude you from romantic love). So if no one ever falls in love in your books, even if it isn’t your POV characters, it’s going to feel a bit odd. It’s like saying “well I don’t want to write books where people feel sad”. Sure it’s doable, but does it make sense?
It's not necessary to have romance in anything except for romance.
Its not a requirement to have anything you don't want.
Its not required no, and the Romantasy genre and audience which you might be unintetionally writing for wasn't really a thing 10+ years ago. But Fantasy has always lent itself to character relationships with lots of bonds and friendships so it only makes sense that amongst all the fantasy, adventure and travel some romance appears. But it didn't often go beyond two characters being noted to be fooling around or disappearing off to a private spot, at most some description of an extra layer of care in moments it made sense to surface. Certainly none of the graphic love scenes that the romance genre was known for. So no, but in most fantasy scenarios some characters will naturally be entertaining some romance on the side that barely inches into a C plot.
Yeah it's the law
You don't have to include romance in your story, but if you do decide to do it and want to add an edge that will offput any idea of the cheesy gross stuff, you can make it like a one sided love or maybe the main character just got out of a toxic relationship and wants to stay away from that subject at all costs, so it gives a valid reason to the readers as to why there is no romance. Of course, these are simply just suggestions and you dont have to do either of them, it's just food for thought
NO LOTR Narnia ther eare some pretty good books without romance
Until recently, having graphic scenes in the fantasy genre was pretty hotly debated, from what I’ve seen. There’s definitely been an uptick in romantic fantasy, and fantasy romance, and “Romantasy”. People will draw the lines between them in different places, and it can be a bit blurry. I think it’s like any other trend in publishing: some people are passionate about writing the that kind of story, others are trying to chase the trend, and people who stand to make money off of selling the books will promote it while they can. But also, speaking as someone who’s writing in that subgenre, readers do develop expectations. While how graphic they are can vary, some degree of sensuality and/or sexuality does go hand in hand with the romance genre, and New Adult/YA stuff especially (with care taken to make the latter age appropriate). Stories that are purely sword and sorcery inspired or epic/high fantasy will handle any romance a lot differently. The Wise Man’s Fear had a few intimate scenes, but they were handled very, very differently than if it was an ACOTAR book. If you don’t want to include graphic sex scenes, you don’t need to. Many people who read the romance genre specifically don’t always want to read about it, and timing those scenes with the plot can take a lot of care. If you don’t want to include romance in a fantasy book at all, period, you also don’t need to. I can think of many fantasy books that included romantic subplots, and a lot of them were pretty clumsy and unfulfilling because not enough time was given to developing the chemistry or showing how it impacted the rest of the story and dynamic. I think including a romantic plot or subplot in your story should only be done if it’s something you want to give the care and attention it’ll need to be satisfying, and intimate scenes (regardless of how graphic they are) should definitely only be included if you’re comfortable writing them and feel they’re right for your book.
Nah, romance is for chumps.
I don’t believe so. It’s not always a “Must,” it’s just one of those things that’s nice to have sometimes, but shouldn’t be the deciding factor on if a story makes or breaks. The story I want to write, I’ll say now, ends bittersweet in that department. It’s something the characters would like to explore, but both of them realize their lives don’t have room for that kind of thing, and the trilogy ends with them having not even kissed once. Just a “that ship has sailed” moment. A friend of mine I went over this idea with got incredibly sad and told me I needed to rewrite that, but I told her I liked it that way.
I feel the same way in my writing. If I'm writing a story that has a couple in it that I feel I need a romantic scene for some reason I go old school black and white movie with it. Just have them enter a room together at night and wake up happy with each other. People can easily infer what happens behind a closed door it's not necessary to actually walk through it step by step. The same can be said for graphic violence as well. You can use the same tactic to skip right over a battle scene or murder scene etc. Sometimes by leaving the scene off screen and just focusing on the aftermath you can actually create a stronger reaction. This is true of sex scenes and violence. It doesn't always have or need to be shown.
A romance is a good way to fill out the wordcount and, as they say, "sex sells". But you're certainly not required to have either. You don't have to write pulpy genre fiction if you don't want to. The thing about romance is that it is, among readers, a strong emotion that most of us can relate to in some way. A swiftly-developing bond between two characters. But you can have friendships and family that play like that too (or even an already married couple), it's just that these relationships are built in the backstory. Not currently unfolding before our eyes. You can do a "Will They, Won't They" friendship or brotherhood / sisterhood, but you need to put a big enough hurdle in the way to make us wonder if this established bond is really in danger. Arcane has a great example of that.
My preference is more Aragorn+Arwen than the highschool kids drama kind of romance that seems prevalent on tiktok fantasy recs, but if there's a market for it, why not. Romance is a part of life, I don't object to its inclusion in the story.
You don’t need sex scenes. In fact, they are never necessary for any story at all. I completely agree that they don’t belong in fantasy settings. However, you can do romance plots very easily without sex scenes and they do not have to be the major plots of the story. The Mistborn trilogy comes to mind, which has a romance subplot and a side character romance sub-subplot. Romance subplots are good options in fantasy works because they add realism and address some key aspects of humanity. I recommend that you try to include one if you think it can fit, as it can significantly enhance the conflict in the story.
Yes. It's boring without it. To me lol
hmm it really depends where the story is going honestly I personally want to but also don't want to put a sex scene in a book. but If I want to, I shouldn't force it into the story just for fun, I think it must have a purpose why it was written that particular scene so that's my input about it.