Talk:Romantic fantasy
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[edit] Uncited work
Half of the page appears to have been stolen from the Blue Rose's developer's journal and the other half from Luna's submission Guidelines. I'm trying to rectify this... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Theotherjetso (talk • contribs) 13:44, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Romantic Fantasy vs. Fantasy Romance
There are two separate subgenres (that are arguably merging) being described here:
Fantasy Romance: a romance novel that takes place in a fantasy setting (like Historical romance, contemporary romance... etc...). This focuses on the romantic relationship between two characters. It adheres absolutely to to the romance novel's formula of a hero and a heroine falling in love and the focus is almost always firmly on their relationship. It has a happy ending in which the hero and the heroine marry and usually produce children. The virginity/purity of the heroine and the virility of the hero are often important (as in romance novels). The characters tend to be more superlatively described.
Romantic Fantasy: a subgenre of fantasy (like "Gothic fantasy, High fantasy... etc...). Improtantly it does not centre upon the romantic relationship between two characters. It's use of the word romantic pertains to the meaning "romanticised" (ie. idealised) as opposed to "love." It is relatively ungritty, has usually a whole cast of characters and focuses on the growth of them. It is often at heart a coming of age story where the character has to deal their emerging identity. There are underlying themes of acceptance and openmindedness. Often main characters will be able to achieve things using their set of limited skills. The search for self-definition often includes a love interest, but this does not take over the story to the same extent as in Fantasy Romance and is often just a subplot. There isn't always a happy ending.
There is some crossover between these two subgenres, especially with Harlequin's launch of Luna which is trying to emulate the Romantic fantasy subgenre. Romantic fantasy doesn't need a romantic subplot. Fantasy romance does. I don't think I'm splitting hairs since it's still fairly easy to decide which side of the divide any given book falls into. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Theotherjetso (talk • contribs) 13:15, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Adding the Elizabeth Kerner series
I've added Elizabeth Kerner's three books, Song in the Silence, The Lesser Kindred, and Redeeming the Lost to the list of examples. I think they fit the romantic fantasy subgenre to a tee, and deserve recognition.
[edit] List
It's getting long. I may split it off soon. Goldfritha 01:30, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Issues
Is anyone still working on this page? Without even reading it really, I notice it has gendered text issues and cites a single author a half dozen times, in addition to (as the tag says) not citing any sources at all. What is the normal practice for an abandoned article with no sources cited? Reduce to a stub and archive the previous version until someone has the chance to rewrite it? Avruch 20:04, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
