No happy ending...

Some of the books by Nicholas Sparks are like that; the endings are bittersweet. With the fantasy element of yours, I'm not sure how it would be categorized.

Oh I've got a couple like that. Nothing like a love interest dying tewwibly twagically

I'd pitch them as Fantasy with strong romantic elements? It probably depends on how much of your story is romance and how much is fantasy.

It isn't romance. Romance requires a happily ever after. Fantasy with strong romantic elements is a good way to pitch it.

IdiotsRUs said:

It probably depends on how much of your story is romance and how much is fantasy.

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This.

Is the romance the main plot or a subplot? You can have a romance set in a fantasy world. Or you can have, for example, a character on a quest in a fantasy world who finds love along the way. The first is Romance. The second is Fantasy.

Soccer Mom said:

It isn't romance. Romance requires a happily ever after. Fantasy with strong romantic elements is a good way to pitch it.

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^^ yep. If it doesn't have a HEA it won't be categorized as Romance.

Yes, romance has to have a happy ending. But there's more to consider here than the ending. Fantasy with romantic elements is really very different from romance in a fantasy setting. The world-building is much more prominent, the conflict is expected to more external with a more complex plot than romance is required to have (not that some romance isn't very complex, but you can get away with less in romance than fantasy). Even the length requirements are different between the genres.

You really can't just take a book written with the pacing, length, and plot of a romance and call it fantasy because it doesn't have a happy ending. You'd be better off changing the ending so it's happy and marketing it as romance. On the other hand, maybe you have the right elements to call it fantasy and keep the ending as it is.

Also, I'm a bit confused about you saying your book is set in the future and then calling it fantasy. Books set in the future are generally science fiction, unless the tech level has regressed somehow and grown magic.

Okay, you just did what a writer elsewhere did to me when trying to determine if her story was fantasy or romance -- you described the plot of the story without mentioning a romance or her attraction to the other character. If you can do that, it probably isn't going to work well for romance publishers.

For a romance novel, the romance between the two MCs has to be the focus of the development of the story. And publishers often insist on an HEA (Happily Ever After). Those really are part of the reason readers read romance.

Sounds like a fantasy, with romantic elements. I wouldn't market it as a romance. HEA is not always required in romance, HFN is sometimes allowed... but tragic endings are extremely rare and a hard sale.

Your plot summary doesn't seemed centralized around a romance and that is absolutely, positively, indelibly required for a romance. The plot IS the romance. So I would go with fantasy. Leave the romantic portions in, there's no rule in fantasy that characters can't fall in love and stuff!

Fiona Gorem said:

Hmm...thanks for pointing that out. I may have to re-evaluate what genre it belongs in.

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Yes, it sounds like science fantasy to me (which is what you get when you combine science fiction with fantasy). I write science fantasy too.