#its gotta be an hea
There’s no singular way to write a genre. Vampires have different lore, some tragedy hits harder than others, sometimes sci-fi includes fantasy elements and sometimes it doesn’t.
But just because one book is about a vampire who sparkles and another is about a vampire who burns in sunlight, doesn’t make one book wrong. The fantasy genre covers all these deviations and validates each narrative.
So if someone’s narrative is different than what you might expect, they’re not wrong. They’re not out of genre or contradictory. They’re completely valid, just like you. They’ve got a separate story that in no way takes away from yours. It only expands the genre.
the only exception i can think of is in the romance genre
a romance has a happy ever after or a happy for now
if not, it’s not a romance (it may have romance! but it no longer fits the genre)
As a romance writer once upon a time - and perhaps one day again - I can totally confirm this… the only hard “you must do this” rule of the romance genre is the happy ending. No happy ending and the story is not a romance. The main characters - whatever sex and/or sexual pairing they are - must ride off into the sunset together to live happily together.
