Romantasy is taking over, I’m not here for it

A rising trend has become apparent where bookstores and newer generations of readers are gravitating toward some genres and leaving others in the dust. Genres like romance, manga and pop-fantasy are all rapidly gaining traction over genres like sci-fi, horror and philosophy.

The differences have an impact on what audiences read, as well as what the substance of not only the books within the genre hold, but also all of the other genres. Writers become accustomed to writing a particular kind of genre. The genres of romance, manga and pop-fantasy all converge into an all too infamous genre named romantasy.

According to “OurCulture,” some of the growing trends in literature as of late are intimacy, autofiction, systems stories, diversity and multigenre books. One can visit their local big box book store and find a plethora of books following these trends. Most books placed on the display are stories of fantastical powers or enticing romances.

The books that you will find on a lot of common displays are exquisitely decorated to become appealing to the general public; bookstores are simply trying to follow what is popular to make a profit. The problem starts to arise when literature abandons the creativity and wisdom of other book genres for the popularity of the invasive romance, manga, and pop-fantasy genres.

When attempting to find the appeal of romantasy style writing to a large audience, one can find simple and predictable patterns in psychology. According to Mindlab Neuroscience, romantasy floods your brain with high amounts of dopamine and oxytocin from pathways that rarely fire. Mindlab said that your brain can not tell the difference between fictional and real emotional experiences and simulates a true feeling of “engagement and loyalty” in the reader.

Mindlab said the experiences of romantasy that are particularly thrilling are the combination of mesolimbic dopamine and oxytocin attachment systems caused by the inability to differentiate between real and fictional partners, the enemies-to-lovers and slow-burn tropes, and the novelty of fantasy.

It is said that in particular, the common trope of enemies to lovers and slow burn, are capable of sustaining “hundreds of pages” of anticipatory dopamine, which, when combined with the attachment and reward of a fictional relationship, creates a very real attachment to a story. According to Mindlab, people can commonly experience post-series grief, which is effectively the same as withdrawal symptoms or a breakup psychologically, which show how some of the popular genres of today exploit people’s needy brain chemistry.

As an anecdote, I once had a comical experience with a novel called “The Song of Achilles,” by Madeline Miller. As a man, I was attracted to the idea of a story of history and triumph over a series of challenges, and I certainly did not think that the book would start to diverge into a romance novel between men, with graphic descriptions, The book failed to mention it’s saucy nature and, honestly, made me afraid to even attempt to find another inspired or wholesome book in my high school. The book was clearly made to draw in a specific audience, but did the author get carried away in their own literary preferences?

Manga and pop-fantasy appeal visually and thematically to readers, but they are also a possible representation of the readers innermost personas and desires. Pop-fantasy books often focus on a central female character that has some sort of magical ability that makes her special enough to matter to others, examples of this can be found on Goodreads under “Magical Girl Fantasy Books” right underneath an advertisement for highly suggestive books. Manga is also often filled with a central character with magical abilities that gains power or affluence from their powers, but of a wider gender standard. The tropes of manga and pop-fantasy may hint at an underlying need to seem cool or special, and feeding on the urge to feel cool or special can easily make people attracted to your book.

Romantasy and its associated genres are manipulative to people’s brains, create a fixation on simple pleasure in fiction, and leave audiences with other interests cautious and disinterested with reading. The other genres of literature should be able to exist independently from invasive genres, and people should be exposed to that which is inspired, not what is heavily marketed and addictive.