Rise of romantasy and #BookTok was catalyst for me to write

From smut to slow-burn romances, romantasy has been hot off the shelves in the past few years.

Buoyed by social media, the genre, a mix of romance and fantasy of varying levels of spice, was even shortlisted for the Collins Dictionary word of the year in 2024.

On Saturday, over 50 fantasy authors will descend on Belfast for a book signing which will be followed by a fae, or fairy, themed ball at the Europa Hotel.

Romantasy's rise in popularity is in part down to the #BookTok trend on the social media platform TikTok.

This created a community of book lovers and authors sharing their favourite reads and advice.

Series such as US author Sarah J Mass' A Court of Thorns and Roses, also known as ACOTAR, and Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing have had viral success as a result.

Larne Native, Nikita Rogers, is a tattoo artist by day and a self-published author by night.

She organised the Belfast, Books and Ballgowns event after attending similar balls in the rest of the UK and US.

Nikita told BBC News NI TikTok was the catalyst which gave her the confidence to publish her own work.

"I was only writing in my little corner of the universe," she said.

"I live in the middle of the country on a sheep farm; there are not many people who are into the same things I am."

Nikita found the BookTok community during the covid pandemic, when she was unable to work for a period of 18 months.

"TikTok was a way of communicating with writers and romantasy readers from all around the world," she said.

"We created our own little community when community wasn't a thing, and it just exploded from there."

Nikita said she used writing as an outlet from a young age.

"I started writing when I was about 14 years old.

"This is going to sound really weird, but it was on a Lord of the Rings fan site because I'm a nerd," she explained.

"It was mostly fan fiction; I think that is where most romantasy writers start with their love for genre, and then you evolve from there."

A self-published author, Nikita said the help of the BookTok community helped her greatly through this process.

"When I started, I didn't know how to format a book, I didn't know what cover art meant, I did not know a thing, and that support system alone… was unmatched," she said.

"It is the only reason I am where I am today."

Explaining the success of the genre, Nikita said there are a lot of people who grew up through the era of novels such as Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Divergent, with romantasy now offering something they always loved "in an adult setting".

She added it was "empowering" for women, with strong female characters being a feature in many of the novels.

A Pagan for the last 22 years, Nikita said this influenced her choice in writing about witchcraft and the treatment of those accused in the European witch trials.

"It was important for me to bring that back.

"In a fantasy setting which is still fun, you have witches, you have murders, you have some romance in there but you're still getting the horror of what happened."

Nikita has also organised a ball and book signing in Belfast after attending many similar events in England, Scotland and America.

"There is nothing quite like standing in a ballgown in the middle of a ball with your fellow readers and being in that safe space, but Northern Ireland, or even Ireland as a whole, has never had one.

"I think it's going to be a magical day, stressful but magical."

Claire Wright, from Dundalk, County Louth, is another romantasy author who was encouraged to publish her own work after seeing the rise of the genre.

"I've been writing for years, probably really bad poetry when I was seven, and it has just continued on," she said.

Her novels imagine a modern-day Ireland in which Celtic myths and legends are real.

Claire said she wrote her first book on and off over a period of 10 years, but she kept coming back to it, despite life and motherhood.

"I write in the car. I write in waiting rooms.

"My kids have so many activities I just have to take my laptop with me and write wherever I can," she said.

Claire said she loved the fantasy genre as a child but took a break from reading whilst raising her family.

However, when she returned to reading, she found it hard to find books which engaged her until she found the romantasy genre.

"You nearly would have been embarrassed a few years ago to admit that you read fantasy books because people have this perception of what fantasy and especially romance fantasy would be," she said.

"But now, you can just talk about it; there is a huge community online where you can chat about the books you love."

Claire said TikTok had massively changed the landscape for prospective writers.

"I probably wouldn't have published my book without networking with other authors online who encouraged me, and it's only getting bigger," she said.

There are so many amazing books being published every day, and it only encourages the rest of us to keep going because our books could be the next BookTok sensation."

Claire also said that it is not just books from traditional publishers that are gaining recognition.

"People don't care if you are traditionally published or indie published; they just want to read a good story.

"It doesn't matter how it got there."