So my current WIP is mostly a Fantasy Story but it has quite a lot of romance in it as well. As the title suggests I was wondering just how much romance is needed to shift a stories genre from pure fantasy to romance or paranormal romance now that I think about it?
Romantic side plots, even even heavily romantic subplots, are common in many genres. I can think of a large number of fantasy writers who are marketed and sold as fantasies where the romantic elements are so central to the story they should qualify as fantasy romances. Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters and her 10,000 kingdoms series come to mind. They are generally shelved with fantasy, probably because of the author's past associations with that genre.
However, there are also plenty of fantasy novels with strong romantic subplots that are just that--fantasy novels first and foremost, but with important romantic elements. Some sort of fall in between, like Maria V Snyder's
Poison Study, which reads very like a romance set in a fantasy world in some ways, but it segues into two more novels that are sequels that focus on other elements besides the romance between the main character and her love. These books were published by Harlequin Romance's fantasy imprint, if I remember correctly, but shelved with fantasy in bookstores.
To determine whether a novel is truly a romance (in the modern genre sense), it should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative.
Is the romance between the two main characters and is the romance central to the story? By central, I mean does the romance drive the most important elements of the overall plot and character arcs? Would the novel not work without the romance between the two main characters (say if they were just good friends instead of lovers).
Also, does the story end with the lovers together with optimism that they will be happy and together into the foreseeable future?
These elements are needed for a story to qualify a romance genre/subgenre (in terms of marketing and target readers).
Ok I know this will sound weird but what do HEA and HFN stand for? I've been around a few forums but have never heard of these terms before.
They mean "Happily Ever After" or "Happily For Now," which are the most non-negotiable elements of a genre romance. The love affair can't end tragically, with the death of one of the partners, on a romantic cliffhanger, or with them shaking hands and agreeing they're better off apart etc. etc.
Of course, there can (and should) be other elements within the story--intrigue, danger, adventure, politics, dastardly plots etc.--and the characters can have important goals besides the romance. But that happy ending should entail one or both discovering that those other goals matter less than the romance, if in conflict, or that there's a way to satisfy those goals without sacrificing the romance after all.