How Writing My First Romantasy Novel Saved Me From Endless Doomscrolling

Have you ever felt a bit stuck in a rut, watching your free time vanish into the endless void of doomscrolling? Or maybe you’ve had a creative idea quietly sitting in the back of your mind, waiting for the “right time” to begin?

If you are feeling a little lacklustre or craving a spark of inspiration, consider this your sign to try something brand new.

For the past two months, I’ve been quietly working on something behind the scenes: I am officially writing my first romantasy novel.

After devouring books by Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, and so many other legends in the genre, I had a sudden realisation. I had a spark of inspiration and thought... why not me?

Fast forward to today, and I am officially closing in on the 80% mark of my very first draft. Here is how jumping into the deep end of creative writing completely transformed my routine, and why starting a passion project might be exactly what you need right now.

What Makes a Great Romantasy? (My Take on Tropes and Pacing)

If you love fantasy romance as much as I do, you know how crucial pacing and character dynamics are. My story has everything you’d expect from high-stakes romantic fiction:

• Fast-paced action distributed across the entire book (because why save all the chaos for the last hundred pages?).

• Steamy romance paired with deep, emotional character arcs.

• Switching third-person limited perspectives to really get inside the heads of both leads.

• Subverted tropes that give familiar reader expectations a fresh, exciting spin.

As someone whose writing background is mostly limited to monthly blog posts and e-commerce copy, diving into full-length fiction was unchartered territory. It felt completely terrifying at first. But designing world-building rules and creating dynamic character interactions has been one of the most exhilarating challenges I've ever taken on.

Swapping the Scroll: How a Creative Hobby Reclaims Your Life

If you’ve been feeling a bit drained or uninspired lately, the default setting for many of us is to pick up our phones and scroll passively for hours. Starting this project completely turned that on its head.

1. Reclaiming Mental Energy

Writing a novel gave me a genuine world to look forward to every single day. Instead of filling quiet moments with social media noise, I had a universe of my own making to retreat to. It was an instant antidote to burnout.

2. Discovering Your True Voice

Stepping into creative writing allows you to play directly to your strengths. An AI review of my early chapters recently described my writing style as "cinematic with pragmatic, witty characters" -a description I will happily take and run with!

Joining the 0.1%: Why You Should Start That Passion Project

I did a bit of digging recently and found out that only 0.05% to 0.1% of the UK population are published authors.

Seeing those numbers blew my mind. Finishing a full-length book is rare, and it’s wildly exciting to think that, in the not-too-distant future, I could actually be part of that tiny percentage once editing, refining, and polishing begin.

If you are waiting for permission to start a new hobby, write a story, or try something creative, here is your friendly nudge today: just start.

You don't need a formal qualification, and you don't need to have every detail figured out. Start a passion project for the pure, unadulterated fun of it. You might just uncover a creative outlet you never knew you were starving for.

What’s Next for the Book?

Barring any tragic plot twists in my own life over the next couple of months, draft number one will be wrapped up very soon. What an absolute dream that is going to be!

Now over to you: Have you been feeling the urge to start something creative lately? Have you ever thought about writing a book, or do you have a passion project collecting dust? Let’s chat in the comments below!

Until next time.