On Sci-fi & Romance genre bleeding.
Based on this discussion.

There are a few things I would like to say on this topic, and I'll try to say them quickly so that everyone doesn't lose interest before I'm done. ;)

First off, one reason why I've decided to go back into fantasy writing of late is because I've come to realise that you don't necessarily need to create a world of 'fantasy' for your novel to be a 'fantasy novel'. Our world works quite fine; we have unlimited numbers of vampires and witches and general beasties that can be brought into our real world to make it a fantastical story.

That seems to level the playing field out a little bit, between fantasy and romance, because suddenly, the world building is just a writing up the world that we ourselves already live in, in a slightly different light.

I personally read lots of both romance and fantasy, so a story really grips me when the two genres mesh together nicely. If anyone wants a recommended writer who I think does this really fantastically, I would suggest Anne Bishop - her books are labeled as "Lavishly sensual... a richly detailed world based on a reversal of genre cliches." This author doesn't seem to let genre distinctions stop the story from being very character and plot based, quite the opposite in fact, and it is that very plots she writes and the characters in them that make her tales so erotic and romantic. Anne Rice has also been known to blur the distinctions between erotica and fantasy.

I have no problem at all in following several characters with their romantic interests, in fact, this makes me feel like I am reading a far fuller story that has had many angles fleshed out.

I'm not saying that this way of writing is for everyone, but that it works for some people, and that in my humble opinion, it is not lesser of a romantic novel when the fantasy elements are treated this way. There's a lot to be offered by genre bleeding.


*gets off soap box and dusts it off for the next person*