With a surge of romantasy novels getting published, how can a writer make theirs stand out? 

I think it’s important for us to remember that every story has already been told; but it hasn’t been told by you. We all offer our own unique perspective to the world, and that’s what makes your stories resonate with people.

Something I chat about in the upcoming course is how romance is so broad, and yet so intimate at the same time. Not everyone will experience romance the same way, as we don’t have the same ideals and beliefs about it. What I consider to be love will not hold true to another person. Lean into that: what do you consider to be romantic? What is love to you? Apply that to your writing; explore it, feed it into your work, and use it to breathe life into your characters.

What is your process for building a complex and interesting fantasy world? 

I wish I could tell you I am a planner and have an air-tight process down pat that works every time… but I’m not. I’m, what we are calling at New Dawn Publishing, a ‘reformed pantser’. My first series, The Soul Thief trilogy, was nearly all written by the seat of my pants. The overall planning was negligible (as in, I had 1-2 pages of dot points for a novel that ended up being 203,000 words). For my new work-in-progress, I have tried to plan it out a little better, and gave myself a vague outline. But so much of it is just left to… feel? Fate? Caffeine-fever-dreams? I’m not sure what to call it.

I had a fellow author describe it as ‘signpost planning’- You know where the book starts, and where it ends, plus a few signposts along the way. The rest, we figure out as we go. That really rings true for me.

For The Soul Thief trilogy, my first draft was just discovering my world along with my characters and adding to my world/map as we went along. I often describe it like a video game; everything was cloudy until my character moved into that space, then the fog cleared and we had a new city/location/kingdom. A lot of the fine-tuning came after in later drafts.

Romantasy is often identified with certain tropes: slow burn, enemies to lovers, found family, etc. Should a fantasy writer always adhere to selected tropes, or is there value in subverting them? 

I am a big believer in there being no hard rules to writing; at the end of the day, writing is art, and art has no limits. If you want to write enemies to lovers, go for it! Turn the trope on its head? Amazing. Or, you can do away with them all together.

The thing about tropes is, not everyone will like the ones you have in your book. I know many readers use them as a ‘shopping list’ of sorts (myself included). But on the flip side, there are some tropes readers loathe, and will avoid like the plague.

So, write what you feel is right to your story, what will add value, emotion, tension etc. Otherwise, you’ll be tying yourself in knots trying to please others and chasing the current ‘in thing’ that could change in a few months.

Can fantasy elements, including magic and fantastical worlds, improve romantic chemistry between characters? 

Oh, absolutely! Fantasy elements can really up the ante! It can help you create tension, bonds, backstory. Fantasy allows you to push the bounds of reality. What is possible (or even socially acceptable in some cases) need not apply to your world. Or on the flip side, you can make things impossible that are norms in our world. The possibilities are endless! 

Writing romantasy often involves juggling complex worlds, magic systems, romantic relationships, characters, and action-packed battles. How do you plan your novels to balance these elements? 

Because I am such a huge pantser (and, just because I like to make my life extra difficult, I also don’t write in chronological order) much of that balancing comes down to edits. Draft one is just this huge, rambling info-dump of the world, characters, events, and arcs. This means I have to do a lot more edits later on, but it’s just how I write best.

Never underestimate the power of a good old notebook. I am forever making notes about my world-building, character motivations and arcs, magic system rules, etc. it helps me stay consistent in later drafts, and it an easy reference point when you are trying away.

Later, if something is not feeling quite right, I will pull out a single storyline (for example, the romance storyline) and examine it on its own without all the external plot factors to see why its falling short.

Madeline Te Whiu is an author from semi-rural Perth. Her debut novel The Assassin Thief was shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Book Awards 2023 in the Emerging Writer category. In 2024 the final book of The Soul Thief trilogy was published, completing the series. With work on her next book well underway, Madeline is looking forward to bringing a new world, characters, and a dash of trauma, to her readers.

Madeline is also a veterinary nurse and lives with her husband, menagerie of animals, and prized collection of books.

Join Madeline Te Whiu for her course, Online: Writing Riveting Romantasy, Wednesday 15 to Tuesday 21 October 2025, online.

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