Ah I see.
I don’t mind some romance. Like as part of the B plot. That’s usually unavoidable. But I think there’s a difference between YA fantasy that happens to have romance and YA Fantasy Romance where romance is a large part of the plot.
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Welcome to wacky writers! I use discord and tumblr for my writing as well but I’ve found that smaller communities tend to be kinder and less toxic. This site is a pretty friendly one though and I hope we can help you develop your writing skills and find a community here with other writers.
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Okay cool then I definitely recommend Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. There’s a romance subplot but it’s not focused on much and it’s slowburn.
You miiiight also like The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. It’s adult grimdark fantasy so it’s really heavy on the worldbuilding but it’s great for character complexity. I don’t remember there being romance in the first book, but I haven’t read the others so proceed with caution (especially considering the era of the author)
You could also try The Young Elites by Marie Lu, there’s a little bit of romance in it (tbh the mc lives in a brothel) but not too much and it’s relatively quick-paced for a high fantasy. I didn’t find the character’s suuuuper complex but I only made it through the first book and I liked the writing well enough.
My fantasy is also grimdark! Love grimdark. Granted, it’s YA/crossover grimdark so less grimdark than adult grimdark.
thanks!
I don’t mind there being romance as part of a subplot. I’m just a person who prefers stories where it still makes sense and works if you take the romance out if that makes sense? Like, romance isn’t a driving plot force.
oh, well Joe Abercrombie is one of the founding authors of the grimdark subgenre! it could be good to explore an og author
yeah, i get that. i’m too aroace to get the mushy mushy stuff
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same on the aroace thing. It makes me feel weird.
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yeah, I mean the occasional Really Good romance subplot will get me. But I prefer Really Good Besties any day.
I remember that account too! But mostly because I pre-ordered your book and the company never sent it to me. It’s the only book I had ever paid for from Wattpad. I know I messaged you about it one time haha. Anywhoo, glad to see you are still around, and hope you are doing well! 
Huh. I wish I could tell you what went on there but I have no clue. Wattpad, my publishers, and I didn’t exactly leave off on a good note.
Yeah. I don’t mind a good subplot. I’m down with that. But if the book doesn’t make sense when you take away the romance…that’s too much for me. Like if it absolutely needs romance to be a book with a plot then I don’t categorize it as solely fantasty/sci-fi/steampunk/etc. Like there’s a difference between fantasy with romance and fantasy romance.
Also ngl I find a lot of YA fantasy romance to be problematic and shallow.
Cool haven’t read it but I listen to their podcast sometimes
Yeah, that stuff is definitely romance in an (insert other genre) setting. I’m glad romance is spanning other genric settings because it’s super popular and there’s a lot of potential for people to branch from romance to other genres. But tbh it’s always a little disappointing when someone says they love reading fantasy and it turns out what they mean is they love reading romance with dragons on basically-medieval-earth and “just trust me it works” magic in it.
what, you don’t think the romance between a domineering 500-year-old magical fairy-demon-wolf king with sexy unaddressed anger issues and the barely legal human girl he decided was his ultimate mate is the peak of healthy relationships?
How silly of me of course this is the epitome of healthy relationships and the standards we should all aspire to have.
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Yeah like I’m happy genres are spreading and all but the same with the idea of some novels just being romance in a fantasy setting. Like if that’s your thing then you do you! And I don’t mind there being romance. But like, I don’t want it to be something so integral to the plot that if you change the romance to, say, friendship the entire plot won’t work.
omg, you were on figment? 
Me, too! It’s nice to see a fellow figgy made their way here 
Also, nice to meet you!
Yea! A very very long time ago lol
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I was on Figment then moved to Wattpad after Figment shut down. If you were hanging out in the Figment forums until the last moment, we could’ve crossed paths 
So, I saw in another thread that it’s been a while since you worked on a new project. What kind of stories do you like to write? What are the genres?
I know! I feel awful about the whole situation. It seemed like they really screwed you as much as they could. Which is awful for smaller authors just trying to get into the market.
I did indeed. I went by Kodi Ross/Kaden Anthony Ross/KA Ross on there I believe! Idk if that rings any bells.
Currently working on a YA dark fantasy that’s an interesting take on the trolley dilemma. I got published traditionally a few years ago but due to some shit with my publishers and Wattpad (who optioned me) I stopped writing for a long time.
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