People ask me why I write closed door fantasy romance. Sometimes they assume it’s just personal preference, or that I’m uncomfortable with spicy content, or that I’m trying to capture a niche market.
The real answer is more layered than that. It’s about values, boundaries, creative freedom, and what I want my stories to teach—not just entertain.
Here’s the honest story behind why I chose to write closed door fantasy romance, and why that choice feels more right with every book I write.
It Started With What I Love to Read
I’ve always been drawn to stories with incredible emotional tension. Give me two characters who can barely breathe when they’re in the same room, who find excuses to be near each other, whose hands brush and it feels like lightning—that’s what I want to read.
When I discovered Regency romance, I found exactly what I’d been craving. Authors like Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer created swoon-worthy tension without a single explicit scene. The longing, the stolen glances, the barely restrained desire—it was all there, written in a way that made me feel every emotion without graphic description.
I wanted to bring that same tension to fantasy romance. The regency era proved you don’t need explicit content to make readers feel everything. I wanted to capture that magic in modern fantasy settings.
But it’s more than just personal reading preference.
It’s About Values and What Stories Teach
Here’s what I’ve realized: stories teach values, whether we intend them to or not. The way we portray relationships, boundaries, and intimacy shapes how readers think about those things in real life.
Closed door romance lets me teach something I believe deeply: privacy in relationships matters.
Some moments between two people are sacred. They’re private. They belong to them alone, not to the world watching. When I write closed door romance, I’m teaching that boundaries are beautiful—that keeping something private doesn’t make it less real or less passionate.
This isn’t about shaming anyone who reads or writes spicy content. Everyone has different values and different comfort levels, and that’s completely valid.
For me, though, I want to show that intimacy can be powerful without being public. That the moments we don’t describe can be just as meaningful as the ones we do. That emotional connection and physical chemistry don’t require explicit scenes to feel real.
My religious and personal values also play a role. I write stories that align with who I am and what I believe. That authenticity matters to me—and I think readers can feel it in the work.
The Family Test: Romance Without Secrets
Here’s one of my core beliefs: If I feel uncomfortable letting any member of my family read my work, I’m doing it wrong.
I have a family. I have people in my life I love and respect. And I refuse to create work I’d have to hide from them.
Secrets kill relationships. I’ve seen it happen. When you have to hide what you create, when you can’t share your passion with the people closest to you, something fundamental breaks.
I want to be able to hand my book to my mom, my siblings, my spouse—anyone I care about—and say “I wrote this, and I’m proud of it.” I want to share my creative work openly, without shame or hesitation.
Writing closed door romance means I never have to choose between my creative passion and my relationships. I can share my stories freely. I can celebrate my books with everyone I love. There are no secrets, no hidden content, no embarrassment.
That freedom is priceless.
The Creative Freedom No One Talks About
Here’s something that surprised me: Writing closed door doesn’t feel like a constraint. It feels like freedom.
I have so many stories in my head. Different characters, different worlds, different tropes and themes I want to explore. And now I can write all of them without feeling like I have to be a specific person to get them out.
I don’t have to worry about:
- Writing intimate scenes that feel inauthentic to who I am
- Forcing heat levels to match market expectations
- Compromising my values to fit genre norms
- Hiding my work from people I love
Instead, I can focus on:
- Creating emotional tension that makes readers ache
- Building romantic chemistry through dialogue and longing
- Developing relationships that feel earned and real
- Crafting fantasy worlds where the romance is central
Closed door romance gives me complete creative freedom to write the stories I want to write, the way I want to write them, without constraints or compromise.
Every story idea I have can stay true to who I am. That’s not limiting—that’s liberating.
“Clean” Doesn’t Mean Boring
The biggest misconception about closed door romance is that it’s boring. Less passionate. Less romantic. Less intense.
I strongly disagree.
Some of the most swoon-worthy moments I’ve ever read were completely closed door. The tension in a Regency ballroom when two people can barely touch. The yearning in a fantasy romance when magical rules keep them apart. The electricity of a first kiss after hundreds of pages of build-up.
Closed door romance can give you all the feels, all the tension, and all the romance—sometimes even more so than explicit content.
Why? Because when you can’t rely on physical intimacy to create connection, you have to dig deeper. You have to create:
- Dialogue that reveals vulnerability
- Moments where emotional walls come down
- Touches that matter because they’re rare
- Looks that say everything words can’t
- Sacrifices that prove devotion
You have to make readers feel the connection emotionally, not just read about it physically.
In my opinion, that creates more powerful romance. When readers feel the longing, the tension, the emotional intimacy—when they’re invested in the relationship, not just the physical attraction—that’s when romance truly resonates.
The Market Is Expanding, Not Shrinking
When I first decided to write closed door, people warned me about challenges. “It’s hard to find comp titles.” “The market wants spicy.” “Clean romance readers are a small niche.”
But here’s what I’m seeing: The closed door fantasy romance audience is growing, not shrinking.
More and more readers are asking for clean fantasy romance. They’re creating communities, sharing recommendations, and supporting authors who write it. BookTok and Bookstagram have massive followings for closed door content.
Yes, there are challenges right now. Marketing in a spicy-dominated market takes strategy. Finding the right readers requires intentionality.
But the future looks bright. This genre is expanding. More authors are writing it. More readers are discovering it. The opportunities are opening up, not closing.
I’m choosing to see this as being early to a growing movement, not late to a declining one.
What I Want Readers to Understand
If you take one thing away from this post, let it be this:
Closed door romance isn’t romance without passion. It’s romance with boundaries.
It’s choosing to keep some moments private. It’s believing that emotional intimacy matters more than physical description. It’s proving that you can create chemistry, tension, and swoon-worthy love stories without explicit content.
It’s about values—teaching that privacy, boundaries, and emotional connection are beautiful.
It’s about freedom—writing authentically without secrets or compromise.
It’s about proving that romance can be just as powerful, just as passionate, and just as compelling when we close the door.
Why I’ll Keep Writing It
This wasn’t a business decision. It wasn’t a marketing strategy. It wasn’t about finding a niche.
This was a collection of realizations about who I am and what I stand for.
I write closed door fantasy romance because it aligns with my values. Because I can share it openly with everyone I love. Because it gives me creative freedom to write any story I imagine. Because I believe emotional intimacy creates the most powerful romance.
Because when I write this way, I’m being authentically me—and that’s the only way I want to create.
If you’re a reader who loves closed door romance, thank you for being here. You’re the reason I can write these stories.
If you’re a writer considering closed door romance, I encourage you to explore it. There’s so much creative freedom here, and the audience is growing every day.
And if you prefer spicy content? That’s completely valid too. There’s room for all kinds of romance in this genre.
For me, though, closed door fantasy romance is where I belong. It’s where my stories live. It’s where I can be fully myself.
And that’s worth everything.
