At FaRoFeb, our aim is to celebrate Fantasy Romance in all its variety. But what exactly are the subgenres of Fantasy Romance? In this brand new series of blog posts, we explore the many different categories that fall under the FaRoFeb umbrella.
Today we welcome Elsie Winters, author of Portal Fantasy Romance, to tell us more about her love for this magical genre!
What is portal fantasy romance?
Portal Fantasy is a story where a character is transported from one world to another through magic. Sometimes it’s a magical place or object that transports them–a portal to another world–or it could be a magical power or spell. Some popular stories with this mechanic are Alice and Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, Outlander, and even Harry Potter.
Portal Romance is a romance story that utilizes this device. For example, in my story Leviathan’s Song I use portals called “Gates” to transport characters between the human world (which they refer to as the Void) and the magical world (called the Boundlands). In popular storytelling this ‘magical world’ was often referred to as Faery or Behind.
Tropes in portal fantasy romance
The most popular trope used in portal fantasy is the “fish out of water” trope, where the main character doesn’t know anything about the magical world and is learning about it along with the reader. This is a great way to tell a Portal Fantasy story, because the reader can slowly absorb new information as the story goes along and the main character finds their footing in the new world.
On the other hand, I chose to tell my story from the point of view of a character that grew up in the magical world, because I’ve always found it interesting to think about the way a magical character would view the mundane human world. How would they view humanity? What would frustrate them or delight them about our magicless world?
Why I love portal fantasy romance
For me, writing portal fantasy felt like the best fit, because I love the marriage of magical and mundane. Leviathan’s Song makes use of the Gates in multiple ways, but my favorite is the limitations and choices they provide my characters. In my stories, not every race can pass through the portals, only specific bloodlines can, so it limits who can use them and who can’t. This gave me some interesting problems to solve for character desires and interactions. How would this limitation affect the world-building? What would cause characters who might die to choose to risk using one?
My portals are a smaller aspect of my story in comparison to the stories, but they’re a major driver in the events that happen in the story and why the world is the way it is. As for the Romance aspect, well, it’s my favorite genre, and the combination of portal fantasy and romance was the only story I wanted to tell ?
Favorite portal romance books
If you’d like to explore the world of portal romance further, here are a few of my favorites:
Fragments Of Your Soul
by E.S. Erbsland
Howl’s Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones
One Fell Sweep
by Ilona Andrews
About Elsie Winters
Elsie Winters lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her husband, two kids, and a dog. When she isn’t reading, writing, or daydreaming about fantasy characters, she’s usually just trying to get her kids to school on time or keep her son from finding her secret stash of monster art. Visit her at www.elsiewinters.com