Hey all, Sam here.
I read this book last year, and actually had it finished in time for its release back in October…but then I didn’t get the review up. And then I had planned to get it written up for February, to be a nice Weekend Writer post in the same month as Valentine’s Day, because I thought it would be thematic. Obviously that didn’t work out either. So here we are, with me finally getting around to finishing this post and scheduling it up for all of you.
In other news, I have been doing some writing, but I’ll talk more about that in my April wrap-up as well as a Weekend Writer post I’m drafting up for next weekend. Oh, and I have my May TBR post mostly drafted and it should be up in a couple more days. It feels great to actually have some posts to look forward to. I know it’s nowhere near as many blog posts as I used to finish up and post, but it’s a step in the right direction from where I’ve been the past couple of years.
Anyway, let’s go ahead and jump into today’s writing craft book review.
Learn the craft of creating a page-turning romantasy novel in this easy-to-follow guide from writing expert and renowned author of The Savior’s Series, Jenna Moreci.
In How to Write Romantasy, Moreci takes you from your first kernel of inspiration through the resolution of your novel, ensuring you hit all the key elements along the way. Chapters are organized around specific plot points, necessary skills, and common questions, covering topics such as building a fantasy framework, creating compelling characters, learning the art of the tease, and bringing home the happily ever after. Each chapter is followed by a summary that you can use for quick reference. You will
• How to marry the fantasy plot with the romantic storyline
• How to write a marketable book that romantasy readers will love
• How to create a shippable pairing that makes fans swoon
• How to build romantic and physical chemistry
• How to pace the story if you’re writing a seriesDelivered with a hefty dose of humor, Moreci’s clear and simple methods are accessible for writers of all experience levels. With How to Write Romantasy, youwill walk away with a deeper understanding of the genre and plenty of inspiration to build your very own romantasy novel.
My Thoughts
Rating: 3 stars
It took me longer than I would have liked to read this book…and it wasn’t because the writing was difficult to follow or anything. No, the real problem was that this book felt like a book you give to someone who has never once thought about writing fantasy OR romance. So many chapters (what felt like 80% of the book) was introducing the most basic overview and tropes and set-up for writing fantasy, romance, and blending the two together to make romantasy.
While the book synopsis says that you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of the genre as well as inspiration for your own romantasy project, I guess that’s assuming you have no idea about the concept of romantasy to begin with. If you’ve already read fantasy books, romance books, or some of the many recent romantasy releases, then this book basically tells you information you undoubtedly already know from what you’ve read before this.
I wouldn’t even classify this as Romantasy 101. It feels far too simple for that.
I was hoping this would actually delve deeper into the merging of plots and tropes, to the building of the character relationships, to developing the pacing and marketing for the story, and I was especially interested in how to build the romantic and physical chemistry between the romantic grouping….and yet, I was left without any deeper understanding for that.
I guess I would have more luck reading a fantasy writing book and then a separate romance writing book, and then just combining those arcs together on my own.
Based on some of the other reviews I’ve seen from this book, there are folks who did find this to be a helpful book, and that it had the same with and information that they’d come to expect from the author’s videos on YouTube. I have not read or watched anything else by this author, so I can’t speak to that. This just wasn’t a very helpful book to me.
The three star review is because it still is an easy to read book, and I can see where it could theoretically be helpful to some people. It just didn’t really tell me anything new. I guess that’s the problem when you’ve already done a lot of studying into writing craft. Oh well.
Well, all right then. That’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
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