There’s a bit of genre disconnect for people who aren’t actually involved with the genres, or writing or books. Most romance is a fantasy. There isn’t actually a lonely cowboy looking for a spunky emerald-eyed nymph out there in real life. People read romance to enjoy the fantasy of cute meets, long, teasing glances and a forever love.

It’s A fantasy, but not necessarily fantasy.

Some people hear fantasy and they either think magic and dragons, Game of Thrones or Harry Potter. Fantasy romance could be some kind of secret Draco and Hermione ship. It could be whatever passes for love in GoT (probably among siblings or complete enemies). It could be a dragon shifter and his prey… er… intended bride?

It could be something with rich world building, in-depth characters with goals and dreams and trials external to the quest for love. There are tons of fantasy books with romance in them, but fantasy-romance is a bit different. Like with all romance genres books, the main point of it all is the couple and getting to that happily ever after.

In the end, it can be a pain in the butt to explain the intricacies of genre lines with someone who is not invested in the world of fiction. Better to just describe your story and recommend they read it.

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I was chatting with a fellow writer yesterday about all the apocalyptic fiction out there at the moment and how many of them included romance. Her general idea was that there might be plenty of sex at the end of the world — it is, after all, a great stress reliever — but that people would turn away from love and romance because there would be so much despair and negativity.

Though you’d be hard-pressed to find some candles and a sappy violinist during the apocalypse, I don’t believe romance would be dead. It would be different, more primal. Giving someone you love your ration of food, bringing them a flower or anything pretty you might find while scavenging, going out of your way to make something a bit more pleasant than the despair all around you.

One fresh blueberry can stand in for a diamond.

People are naturally hard-wired to love one another, I think. While sex is an animal need, a craving and, as mentioned above, a great way to find some pleasure in a non-pleasurable world, falling in love with someone is a very human need, I think.

We want connections. We want someone on our side. And in a world where everything seems bleak or actively working against us, when things look darkest, I think we’re much more likely to fall in love. It might be our only comfort left.

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