Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

@emhenn921.bsky.social

840 followers 1.7K following 180 posts

Reader. Writer. Mom. PT. Not necessarily in that order. Currently working on my Romantasy WIP Ryderborn and querying my romantic fantasy Into the Wildewood.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · May 7

If you love:

🐉accessible magic
🐉friends to enemies to lovers
🐉palace intrigue
🐉feminine rage
🐉Viking vibes
🐉one dragon

this is for you!

#questpit #W #romantasy

Raegan, an aspiring mage, is forced to give up her dream of protecting the realm after the king betroths her to Prince Arlon, the boy who broke her heart the night her mother perished. As Arlon’s icy exterior thaws, Raegan learns the true nature of his cold shoulder, and with time the walls around her heart begin to crumble. But with war looming across the sea and secrets around every palace corner, Raegan must choose between trusting the boy she loved, and protecting her heart and fleeing for good.

5 35 72

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · 11d

Love this!

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · 11d

Here for the revenge!

1 1

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · 11d

Ah I love the countdown suspense!

1 1

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · 11d

ohhh very intriguing!!! sounds great!

1 1

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · 11d

Awesome!

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · 11d

So so good! You had me at attractive spy 🤤 we love our Rocco!!

1 1

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Tali Shammas @talishammas.bsky.social · May 23

In 1900s Latvia, Stasi mixes blood with paint to create reality-shaping art, but when she enters a prestigious art competition and discovers wealthy elites are killing female artists, she risks her forbidden sapphic love and life to stop them.

#WIPPIT #HF #H #R #LGBT

The Colour of Blood, a feminist coming-of-rage 70k sapphic horromance, featuring Latvian mythology, examination of colonialism and misogyny, art school rivals-to-lovers, generational trauma, a unique paint-based blood magic system, and all the barbed banter ("Mind your step, lest you trip over my affairs.")

Excerpt from the Colour of Blood: I draw the imbuing knife across my palm and wince. My skin is accustomed to this ritual, dulled to the sting. But today, the blade finds something soft, something still capable of pain, and sinks its teeth in. Blood wells fast, eager, filling a shallow groove in my palette. I carefully pour water into the next. Flickering candlelight reflects on the pools. The water skitters under the light, but the blood is thicker, darker, slower to settle. Yellow may be my most loathed colour, but red has always been my favourite. The colour of love, of rage, of life. The colour of blood.

Tropes, themes, and comps, including Blood Over Bright Haven, Mexican Gothic, and Juniper & Thorn.

Blurb: In 1900s Latvia, female artists combine blood with paint to yield reality-altering art. Stasi, an ambitious artist, is selected to compete for a coveted year-long residency at the Von Nachtraben estate, home to Europe’s most powerful paint magnate. For Stasi, the competition is a chance to elevate her social standing, earn her emotionally distant parents' approval, and escape the brothel where she's secretly working.

But when a talented competitor suffers a gruesome death during the first trial, Stasi suspects the competition’s purpose is not recruitment but the elimination of the world’s strongest magical women. Stasi's unease turns to horror when she uncovers a hidden laboratory in the estate where the Von Nachtrabens craft a toxic green pigment engineered to weaken women who paint. And when she tries and fails to escape the estate, she realizes participation in the competition is no longer an option but a compulsion.

As a forbidden sapphic romance kindles between Stasi and her childhood rival—and more women vanish—Stasi must navigate deadly trials, competitors willing to sell each other out to advance, and the Von Nachtrabens’ insidious web of control. To stop the elite intent on silencing women who dare stand against them, Stasi will have to risk her love and her life.

1 17 33

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · May 23

Obsessed!!!

Ryn Perkins @kateperkinswrites.bsky.social · May 23

A cursed kingdom, a lost princess, and a prince with a secret – trusting each other may be the key to survival – but whose?

❤️‍🔥Planned Duology
❤️‍🔥Dual POV and Hidden Identities of HEARTLESS HUNTER
❤️‍🔥Cursed Kingdom of SLEEPING BEAUTY
❤️‍🔥Feuding Kingdoms A RIVER ENCHANTED
#RF #PN #NA #WIPPIT #R

1 1

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

danny is ✨querying✨ @dainathomps.bsky.social · May 7

THE BONE SEASON x SERPENT AND DOVE

#agentguide for A BALLAD OF ICE & BLOOD, a dark romantasy novel with:

⚔️series potential
🗝️bards & ballads
🔗heavy foreshadowing
🥀blood & death magic
🕯️slow burn romance
🕷️gods & monsters

#questpit #Q #F #A

3 22 66

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · May 7

she can totally handle this

1 1

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Emma Al-munshi @emmaalmunshi.bsky.social · May 7

Challenges Lyla Kattan will face this week…

🌒New scar thanks to the eclipse
😈Maniacal boss triggering a ritual
🪞A familiar face
🥷Kidnappers, apparently
🖤Undeniable chemistry with Axel - shame he’s the enemy & is blackmailing her
⚡️Erm, the apocalypse?
#Questpit #RF #NA #Q #writersky

3 12 31

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Kate Drexel is 🕯️querying🕯️ @katedrexel.bsky.social · May 7

FBI agent Gideon will do whatever it takes to free Hadley—even if it means working with the cult leader who broke her. Every task he completes pulls him further from the law… and close to something he may never come back from.

#QuestPit #Q #T #A

1 7 33

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Max is ✨querying✨ @mtaylorauthor.bsky.social · May 7

WHERE THE DARK STANDS STILL x RED QUEEN

🍸 Rich people scavenger hunt
❤️‍🔥Love triangle + forced proximity
🗡️Enemies to lovers to…? 😏
👯‍♀️Girl’s girl energy
🌲Little Mermaid, but make it a forest
✨Feminine rage

HEART OF THE THORNEWOOD | urban YA fantasy
#questpit #Q #YA #F

To save her realm and her people from extinction, lone Dryad, Eryna, must hide amongst human high society and play their twisted party games to take back the magic that was stolen from her land.

7 33

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Yaira Pujols @yairap.bsky.social · May 7

OUABH X BELLADONA

When a sheltered girl falls in love with the vampire haunting her dreams, she must decide whether to resist their eternal bond or confront her worst fear and his greatest desire-death

Completed at 100k

#YA #FR #W #Questpit

1 5 26

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Kelton Davis is querying! 🏹⚔️🌠 @keltondavis.bsky.social · May 7

THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER x GODKILLER

When an assassin nearly kills her mother, ruler of her people and living goddess, Niozene must chase redemption into a forbidden land to win back the throne...and her mother's love.

🏹 Strong FMC
🏹 Disgraced Heir
🏹 Cyclical Trauma

#F #W #A #questpit

Background: Ferns
Title Card
Text: An Agent's Guide To: The Daughter and the Nameless Son by Kelton Davis | Adult Fantasy | WIP | Estimated at 109K words

Background: Ferns | Six images surrounding a quote: A red forest, a sunset, hammer striking hot metal, red arrow fletching, an old, grizzle man, and a red-haired woman archer.
Text: "You might be too broken to help me yourself," she said, all pretense of courtesy gone, "but if you're a shadow of the man he said you were, you ought to still know something at least.
"Have you ever heard of an assassin who could change their shape?"

Background: Ferns
Title: Comps
Images: Covers of GODKILLER by Hannah Kaner, THE JUSTICE OF KINGS by Richard Swan, and THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER by Andrew Stewart. Arrows connect similarities between comps.
Text:
From GODKILLER: Cross-Country Quest to Forbidden Land, Surrogate Parenthood (shared with THE JUSTICE OF KINGS)
From BONE SHARD DAUGHTER: Disgraced Heir, Strong FMC (shared with both others)

Background: Ferns
Title: Pitch
Text: For Niozene, eldest daughter and crown heir to the Mother, the living goddess that rules her country, perfection is not a goal to strive toward; it is the base expectation. And despite her every effort to the contrary, Niozene is not perfect. Her flawless scholar’s education and polished career as a ranger have failed to convince the Mother to look past her greatest mistake: she was born without the holy power that marks her family as divinity and grants them their divine right to rule.

When a shape-changing assassin nearly kills the Mother on Niozene’s watch, she officially runs out of time to impress. She is stripped of her titles and given a choice: return with the assassin’s head, or face excommunication—banishment from both her homeland and the afterlife. Desperate, she accepts the task as her last chance to show the Mother she deserves a place as her daughter.

Allowed only the help of another excommunicated criminal, a surly, aged tracker named Sonsan, and facing an assassin who could be anyone, she dreads her chance is over before it starts. But when Sonsan reveals the same shape-changing power as the assassin, she realizes there is more to her quest than she has been told. As they chase the assassin deep into a forbidden land, they must confront the buried history they discover they share, as well as the ghosts that haunt their dreams and blood, if they are to return alive.

14 40

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Claire Kidwell @kiddyjoy.bsky.social · May 7

UPROOTED x BRIDGERTON

🪲 A naïve natural historian in desperate need of a guide through the cursed forest.

🌌 A non-binary rogue who will do anything to rescue their family.

👀 A plot to trap the rogue brings them together.

❤️ Their hearts will draw them closer.

#questpit #Q #A #F #RF

Images of Pippin and Aragorn from Lord of the Rings in discussion with added text.
Pippin: “What about a night-coded love interest?”
Aragorn: “We already had it.”
Pippin: “We’ve had shadow daddies, yes. What about a shadow enby?”

A graphic which reads: An agent’s guide to RETURN THE SKY, Adult Fantasy, 112,000 words. PITCH: Assistant natural historian Heidi ventures into the cursed forest for her thesis. She expected danger. She didn’t expect to fall in love with a strange rogue who presents her with a choice - help them and start a war between the forest and her home, or betray them and keep her family safe. Comps are Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Where the Dark Stands Still, and Uprooted. Tropes and themes include dark academia, non-binary love interest, yearning, cozy fantasy (with teeth), slow burn, forced proximity, hidden histories and secrets, eventual happy ending, queernormative world, and dark forests.

1 8 27

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

alyssa is ✨️ querying ✨️ @alyssaarcher.bsky.social · May 7

When the King’s lethal plans to eradicate magic threatens to expose a young noble’s seer abilities, she exploits her engagement with the King’s son to uncover the Crown’s secrets, but her fiancé’s fascination with poison could make her his next test subject if she’s caught🥀

#QuestPit #YA #F #Q #DIS

Six photos with labels overlay a background of foamy waves washing over golden sands.
First photo is of a blond man lying on the floor with a necklace dangling over his head. "Lessons in poison" and "Prince just as lethal as poison" points at the first photo.
Second photo is of a cliff with the sea at its bottom. "City on a cliff by the sea" points at the second photo.
Third photo is a close-up of an eye with a light blue iris beside white flowers. "Involuntary visions of the future" points at the third photo.
Fourth photo is of a blond woman wearing a blue gown in front of a wall of red flowers. "Chronically ill seer" and "Forced proximity" points at the fourth photo.
Fifth photo is of a gold crown. "MC and rebellion are just using each other" points at the fifth photo.
Sixth photo is of a wine glass filled with a crimson liquid and dried flowers. "Paranoid King with an affinity for poison" points at the sixth photo.
"A Crown of Poison", "Violet Made of Thorns X Defy The Night", and "Young Adult Fantasy" marks the photo below the collage.

10 29

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Dannye Chase is querying queer romance @dannyechase.bsky.social · May 7

For #QuestPit: FOREWARNING: A psychic NB prince trying to solve a royal murder mystery must hide his romantic feelings when his guardsman best friend (and forbidden secret crush) becomes his bodyguard.
#Q #A #R #F #S
*High spice
*Seeing gorgeous half-naked men in your future but also death omens :/

A list of tropes for Forewarning with a mockup of a cover that shows a photo of two hands clasping in rainbow light

NB/M Prince/Royal Guard
Forbidden romance but the entire internet ships it
Best friends to lovers
Royal murder mystery
Psychic powers
Bodyguard romance
Seeing gorgeous half-naked men in your future but also death omens :/

A pitch for my novel

Queer Romance FOREWARNING

Prince Cole doesn't know why he psychically sees people's doppelgangers acting out the future, but it does come in handy. Cole's other secret not so much—he's desperately in love with his childhood best friend, royal guardsman Lucas, not least because Luc staunchly supports Cole being an openly nonbinary royal.

Unfortunately, Cole can't marry a guardsman, and sweet, introverted Luc would never want to be a royal spouse anyway. But when a head of state is murdered and Cole's life is threatened, Luc steps in as Cole's 24/7 bodyguard.

Together they must find a legendary weapon of mass destruction that threatens their own lives—and millions more. (And really, it would be easier for Cole to concentrate if his gorgeous bodyguard wasn't wandering around their room half-naked, but whatever. It's fine.)

Comps for Forewarning

FOREWARNING is a bit like if Dean Koontz's ODD THOMAS was an upbeat queer romance. It will appeal to readers who enjoy K.J. Charles's DOOMSDAY series for its queer love story, strong B-plot, spice level, and titled/commoner dynamics; and the sassy tone of Alexis Hall's 10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED.

Details of Forewarning:

Logline: A psychic nonbinary prince trying to solve a royal murder mystery must hide his romantic feelings when his guardsman best friend (and forbidden secret crush) becomes his bodyguard.

Genres: Queer Romance, Low Fantasy, Adult, Contemporary

Length: 54,000 words

1 21 49

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Kristen Argyres || Add MY THORNS FOR YOUR ROSES on Goodreads @kargyres.bsky.social · May 7

#QuestPit #P #RF #A

A husband is a required inconvenience to escape Lark's home life, but when a faerie roots a rose in her flesh, rumors abound.

Lark must convince the petty bastard to remove the rose, but the forest is full of danger - & newfound desires.

@conquestpublishing.bsky.social

A mood board for "My Thorns For Your Roses."

A collage of scenic photos which includes a night sky, a pine forest covered in snow, a bonfire, a stream in a dark wood, a butterfly on a thistle flower, a fox in an autumn wood, the Scottish lowlands, and a shrub of white roses in full blossom.

At the center, a quote is included: "In retrospect, I was right. My future spouse would be so much more than a man."

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries. The cover depicts whimsical plants with blue flowers and red capped mushrooms and an open book at the bottom.

The caption reads: "Fae will be fae" and "Practical, adult heroine."

For the Wolf. The cover shows a woman clad in a red hooded cloak standing before a white-treed forest with a misty blue between her and the woods.

The caption: "A magical wood that isn't always friendly."

After the Forest. The cover shows a fox mask with auburn hair along with a variety of pinecones, leaves, antlers, a bear and a wolf, and a ginger bread house at the bottom.

The caption reads: "Faerie tale retelling" and "Complicated family dynamics."

Character art for Lark and Tamlin for “My Thorns For Your Roses” by Twitter user nanasuen2650.

Lark has long, tawny hair with decorative braids and a white rose behind her left ear. She is wearing a sand-colored dress with a paneled skirt and leather belt.

Tamlin has long, wavy brown hair decorated with flowers and wears a belted plaid with an intricate leaf design and accessories.

Lark's bullet points include:

Daughter of a famous, retired blacksmith
Oldest daughter syndrome (IYKYK)
Trauma, but not because her family was tragically murdered
Her parents and 4 younger siblings are all still alive!
Wants to get out of this town and needs a man to accomplish her goal
Doesn't believe in faeries for REASONS

Tamlin's bullet points are:

Child of the oldest oak tree in the forest
Faerie Lord of Cairnwood (local forest)
Shapeshifter - plants, animals, objects
Resents being told his kind don't exist
Enjoys messing with Lark
Totally not scared of his cannibal ex

A Snippet from MY THORNS FOR YOUR ROSES

"You shouldn't touch a woman who isn't your wife so casually," I rebuked the man. Our eyes met and we engaged in a battle of wills. My anger versus the spellbinding quality of his stare. My heart raced - furious and exhilarated - bewildered by how the two blended so seamlessly.
"Is that a proposal?"

4 9 40

Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉 @emhenn921.bsky.social · May 7

love this!!

1 2

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Judith Webster @judithlwebster.bsky.social · May 7

One Dark Window x Divergent
The most dangerous game of all is the one played by the heart.
#Questpit #Q #A #F
❤️Dark Alice in Wonderland reimagining
♠️A fate they both wish to escape
♦️A secret Rebellion led by a prince
♣️It takes a monster to destroy one
🃏A wild card

7 14 48

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Isabelle Ranney @isabelleranney.bsky.social · May 7

Hallmark's THE WAY HOME x DOWNTON ABBEY

⏳ Time travel to 1915
👨‍💼 Cinnamon roll love interest
❤️ Slow-burn romance
✨ Dash of magical realism
🖼️ Saving the museum

Should you change the past for love in the future?

#questpit #W #R #sweetromance Querying soon!

Old-fashioned cursive writing, modern woman sitting, historical house, garden roses, man in three-piece suit, old stone archway, old watch with Roman numerals.

14 39

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Erin C @erinscarlet.bsky.social · May 7

GRIMM X FOURTH WING X MOTHERLAND FORT SALEM
By day, Aurora fights to break her curse at an academy for monster hunters. By night, she fights in a nightmare world. When a mysterious stranger named Philip appears in the Dreaming, her dreams of freedom and her heart will be tested.
#questpit #A #wip #F

2 12 40

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

AK @authoraak.bsky.social · May 7

My adult romantasy Garden of Gods has
🫀angsty banter
🥀animated beasts & body horror
🫀diverse cast & disability rep
🥀starts of rebellion

The manuscript has seen some agent and indie publisher interest but I’m still in the query trenches!

#questpit #q #a #f #r

AK @authoraak.bsky.social · May 7

Garden of Gods 🩸🌹

THE HURRICANE WARS x THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER

(I like to think of it as Attack on Titan set in the Ottoman Empire with more magic and more romance)

#questpit #q #a #f #r

3 4 26

Reposted by Emily is QUERYING a romantic fantasy and writing romantasy 🐉

Susie Lindau @susielindau.bsky.social · May 7

Lisa Jewell meets The Haunting of Hill House in a dual POV and Timeline.

#QuestPit #T #H #A #Q #S #amquerying #AgentGuide #AgentsGuide

The Pitch
It's easy to romanticize writing a book in a remote location, but when a sentient house attacks and a psychopath threatens, a novelist must unearth the key to this madness, or his sister will arrive in time to write his eulogy.

For fans of Supernatural thriller, Gothic, coming of age, sexual identity, survival, stalker, family secrets and dysfunction, wilderness, Riley Sager, Julia Bartz, Lisa Jewell

The Bare bones
80,000 words, Dual POV and Timeline, Professionally edited, Contest finalist

2 15 37