Want to jump on the fantasy romance/romantasy train, but don't know where to start?

These fantasy romance writing prompts are here for you! They'll get your creativity flowing and introduce you to a few of the different fantasy romance sub-genres so you can play around, explore, and see what excites you.

1. Trope: Fated mates Type of fantasy: High fantasy, where the world functions very differently to ours Main character 1: A strego—a witch who specializes in evil curses Main character 2: The Orcolat—a monstrous being who controls earthquakes Setting: Folklore-inspired fantasy version of medieval Italy Prompt: Write a scene, set at a summer festival, where the two characters meet for the first time
   

2. Trope: Forced proximity-road trip Type of fantasy: Urban fantasy, where the world closely resembles ours Main character 1: Bodyguard specializing in protecting magical folk Main character 2: Famous tarot reader on social media Setting: Modern New York City Prompt: Write a scene that occurs just after something dramatic has happened and describe the first time the bodyguard and tarot reader are alone together
   

3. Trope: Forbidden love Type of fantasy: Historical fantasy, where the world functions much like our historical world did, but with added magic Main character 1: Clan leader Main character 2: Banshee Setting: 18th-century Scotland Prompt: Write a scene showing one or both characters fighting with a close family or friend about why the love interest is worth fighting for
   

4. Trope: Taboo love Type of fantasy: Urban fantasy, where the world closely resembles ours Main character 1: Professor Main character 2: Student Main character 3: Headmaster Setting: Magical university Prompt: Write a spicy scene where the student and headmaster pleasure the professor

You can follow these prompts for as long as you want—start with the scene from the prompt, and go from there! You might just be inspired to take the prompt and run with it for a whole manuscript.

And if you are inspired to turn these ideas into a fully-fledged story, don't forget to write your world-building and character details so you can keep track of them. Create a simple MS Word or Google Doc that lists things like: -your characters, their goals, motivations, emotional wounds, and magical powers -a breakdown of the sub-plot, if you have one, like a fight against an evil king or the impending permanent winter that will destroy all the crops in the land -a brief description of your world's magic system, culture, language, religion—anything that, to borrow a really annoying phrase, makes your world go round and is important enough that readers need to know about it and, therefore, you need to include in the story in some way

Having all this written down in one place makes it easy to reference. And if you want to know more about world-building, I highly recommend Timothy Hickson's On Writing and Worldbuilding. I'm reading it now and it's so helpful, well-organized, and kind in how it's written. Like a very nice teacher over your shoulder coaching you, while also reminding you that doing stuff your own way is totally cool.