I Heart Romantasy

Never did I ever suspect that Romantic Fantasy would become the genre in which I make my debut, let alone YA Romantasy. My specialty had always been in high fantasy of the dark, sumptuous sort, with influences such as Tolkien, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordyn, and George MacDonald. Alas, I am indeed a romantic. I am in love with love, bigger-than-life relationships, chill-enducing twists, and fantastical worlds. Writing Romantasy came a lot more natural to me than anticipated, and writing YA Romantasy has probably been the most fun I’ve ever had with this craft. I can't resist it anymore.

I heart Romantasy. I heart writing for YA, and I heart Romantasy tropes.

Actually, I’m obsessed. I can’t get enough of the tropes. I can’t get enough of the wholesome, funny, cheesy vibes of some of my own characters.

With the students cheering me on, I was seeped in inspiration. However, I needed a foundation on which to begin building my future YA works...

When I was younger, I was far too high and mighty to get into Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. As someone who had grown up on Anne Rice, sparkly vampires were a bit much. I was one of those kids who rejected and mocked things simply for being trendy. I know, now, how stupid that is. Be that as it may, as an adult, I saw Twilight in the exact genre wherein I was about to delve, and finally decided to read the first book. Say what you will, but whether you love or hate Stephanie Meyer novels, she is extremely successful. Either you love Twilight, or you love to hate it, and that, to me, says Stephanie won.

So, I decided to base the overall story arc and design on Twilight, but with a twist. Green flags rather than red ones.

…Okay, mostly green flags. There are a few reds, but those only last about two chapters in Grinning Dragon.

Either way, I knew one thing for sure: I was sick of toxic relationships being romantasized, especially when aimed at younger audiences. I started reading Twilight, and after maybe five chapters, I dived into the writing of Grinning Dragon. That took off into a realm of it’s own.

I’d planned on keeping the Pivotal Dawn series simple, but, in my usual fashion, storylines and characters quickly began to get more complicated.

In the beginning, what I struggled with the most was deciding what kind of mythology to draw inspiration from, both for my world, as well as my characters. I love vampires and fairies, but I don’t think you can argue that those are a little overdone. I really wanted to do something different, and shed light on entities we might not hear of quite as often. So, while the overall premises of these books were inspired by Twilight, I started to draw a lot of inspiration from fairytales and Greek Mythology. (Write what you know, right?)

The rest is a lot of me. I take a ton of inspiration from the scenarios, relationships and interests that have happened to or followed me throughout my own life. Since the bond I used to share with my oldest niece was remarkably similar to that had by Lorelei and Rory in Gilmore Girls, that, too, became another chalice from which to drink in motivation, specifically when it comes to the dynamic between my protagonist, Jin, and her mother, Rachael.

As I remained employed at the middle school during the process of the first novel, and most of the second one, those were pretty dang fun and easy to write. It wasn’t like I didn’t hit any walls or struggle with certain things, but having the student’s love for my stories really propelled me through any hurdles.

No. It wasn’t until after I’d left that job and started the third Pivotal Dawn book that I hit a major slump.

I was wrestling with the development of the plot. I needed there to be more to the story than what there was… But then, maybe a month or two into my slump, perseverance paid off, and it came to me. The perfect scene. A scene I’d only be able to reach if I reached the end of the book.

The sailing continued. Even so, Book Three took longer, and was more difficult to devise than any of the other novels.

On May 4th, 2025, my mom, the beautiful, soulful, unconditionally loving anchor of my life passed away right at the official completion of the third novel. It goes without saying that this was a monumental loss. In my grief, I was also terrified that her death would cripple my creative abilities, and that everything I’d worked for would come to a screeching halt…but it didn’t.

In July, I finally got to outlining and then writing the fourth book.

By February of 2026, even the second draft of the fifth and final novel was finished.

It was time to begin drafting yet another new chapter for myself. It was time to start editing the last two works, and so that the time to start publishing could finally arrive.

Tropes of Grinning Dragon:

• In the process of creating Pivotal Dawn, my obsession for the morally gray trope has definitely grown to new heights. Who doesn’t love a man who would cross any line for the woman he loves? The thing is, I like my men…what’s the word? Sane. Moral. Self-controlled. And so, the building of Dominic Spencer started from the ground up.

  Finding the edge between morally gray Doberman and sunny Golden Retriever was a thrilling and interesting process.

  
  

• The yearning explored in Grinning Dragon takes romantic tension and enhances it like pressure building in a burning propane-tank factory. It's a slow burn, but an explosion is inevitable... That yearnings and tension is easily one of my favorite things about the first book. Creating the dynamic between Jin and Dominic was also unbelievably fun to write, and read.

  
  

• InstaLove... Without a doubt, these characters fall hard, and they fall fast, even if they're not immediately aware of it.

  We’ll say...'Instalove with another slight twist: Instalove meets that slow burn' I mentioned above. There are plenty of adequate reasons why my teenage lead and her gilded paramour have to take things slow. One of those reasons is that Jin Banksee is incredibly naive. In the first novel, she doesn’t quite know who she is yet. Therefore, she is vastly unaware of her own power, or the potential waiting to be unlocked in her very DNA.

These are only a few of the tropes that launch the experience of Grinning Dragon into immeasurable, lip-biting, skin-tingling, toe-curling, chuckle-enducing depths. I'll do a deeper dive sometime in the near future.

What do you think? Do you vibe with the tropes I mentioned above? Because if you do, we’re gonna have a lot of fun.

Whether mentioned here or not, what are you favorite tropes, and why?

I’d soooo love to hear about it, so please feel free to comment here, or follow along on my socials!

Next, I’ll be diving into a better look at the Pivotal Dawn universe.

See you there!   

P.S: And remember. Life is Art. Live it!