Or the other way around: something you like to read, but don’t like to write? (Not that you struggle to write, but hate doing it at all. Even if you are good at it.)
I was pondering this question myself and hadn’t come up with too many answers. Vague ideas, like how I don’t like describing the environment, but I can enjoy a good descriptive passage in someone else’s work. On the other hand, everything I like to write I like to read.
However, I know some people don’t like reading other people’s renditions of certain tropes. I’m interested in hearing about it.
I can’t think of any genres or tropes off the top of my head which count for me, but I know there are some of those too!
I follow a couple of writers whose stories are these big emotional pieces. Like the focus is the internal emotions of the characters, the physical effects on their bodies & the writers describe it in depth & use a load of metaphor to expand that emotion out into the world around them. I absolutely love those stories.
But I’m pretty sure that along with a “touch of the 'tism” as I once heard it amusingly described, I also have a condition called alexithymia which makes it really hard for me to identify strong emotions in myself & others, so I could never write those types of stories. And I’m pretty sure I’d hate it if I tried because I struggle to process big & deep emotions without get physically upset. My characters’ emotions tend to be much lighter by comparison (unless I’m stressed & then it all comes out, but it’s hit or miss as to whether it’s readable in the end).
So these fics are great. I get to have someone explain these feelings in words for me & even though I can’t necessarily relate, I can feel the beauty in how they’re described.
I relate. It is definitely my aphantasia which makes me hate and not want to write physical descriptions. The inability to keep images in my head makes it all less important to me. When I read other people writing it, I appreciate the word choices. It doesn’t make me imagine anything, because I literally can’t. I work in concepts and sounds.
On the bright side, the world definitely needs writers like you and I as well as those we enjoy but can’t emulate. Not every story needs heavy emotions and not every story needs the room completely described. We fill those niches. :)
I write a ton of romance stories for someone who doesn’t really like romance published fiction. haha. Does that count?
I probably wouldn’t write first person POV (just because I know it puts people off) but I wouldn’t mind reading it in fic. Also I occasionally write PWP but don’t really seek out PWP fic.
As for enjoying reading but not writing… I’ve gotten ideas for fics that fit into the category of “I’d read it if someone else wrote it”, but those are usually “this story would be boring for me to write”.
I can’t really think of anything I’m super opposed to on either end but would enjoy in some way. If I dislike a trope, I’m not going to read it or write it.
It counts! Though I also think fanfiction romance is a way different genre than original fiction romance. I think most published romance is boring, but published fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, or something else which happens to have romance in it? Already better. Then fanfiction, where the original story was already something completely different most of the time? Usually even better.
“I’d read it if someone else wrote it” is a good one. I know there are several of those for me, I just can’t think of what they are. They exist though. Just have to remember them.
I am very picky about my romances and for hyper-specific genres I looove reading them. Heck, I’ll happily read pairings that aren’t my OTPs. But I hate writing them unless there is something there to make me laugh.
I’m generally very open to reading all kinds of endings. However I cannot stand writing endings that are closed. To me that immediately makes the story too unrealistic.
One genre I have a very mixed relationship with is horror. Years of getting into unfortunate conversations with others who would be, “why wasn’t this tagged for horror” or refer to me as a horror artist made me veeeery upset and it still kind of stings.
The issue with this comes from the fact that certain subject matter that are popular in the horror genre brings me a lot of comfort (most common example: existentialism dripping in voidpunk) however for a lot of people that is terrifying regardless of the goal of the work. To me, it feels like lying if I tag something as horror when the last thing I am interested in is spooking people. I also have a deep, deep hatred for the body horror tag. It’s massively depressing and enraging as fuck that people who were born with or end up in a situation where they now have unconventional parts are suppose to be defaulted to the “your existence is now tragedy” genre.
Heck, in general I find the horror genre very annoying. There are works I get into but it was because of some other element. I’m not here to be scared, I’m here because that monster design was beautiful or the worldbuilding did something cool.
These days I do my best to tag warnings for elements so no one comes unprepared. However, I still don’t call my work horror because that isn’t the goal.
I’m sorry you’ve experienced that level of mislabeling of your work. Not everything that someone finds scary is necessarily horror and sometimes I think people misunderstand the point of tagging.
Thank you. I like to think I’ve gotten better over the years but sometimes I get comments that make me flail my arms for an hour.
Entirely fair. I think that is, unfortunately, just part of the experience. That said, I imagine your work really resonates with others who find comfort in similar things. Part of the joy of writing niche is fulfilling something that others seeking it can’t easily find elsewhere.
Hard agree. The thing I like the most about a lot of horror is the worldbuilding. It’s the ones that make me think I enjoy. Then again, I think there is a large difference between scary and startling. A lot of people consolidate the two. I’m easily startled, but I’m not always easily scared.
Like where genres blur out into other genres but it doesn’t always go two ways! “A rectangle is a square but a square is never a rectangle.”
Oh gosh, I’m sure I have them, but off the top of my head I cannot think of any. For me, I tend to hyper-fixate on a specific theme for a stretch and then it’s like I just don’t want to write anything else. But the theme sometimes changes? So I guess the answer to this question changes as well. This is true for both reading and writing so… XD
Awe, still would of been fun to hear what it was now and be able to compare months later when someone asks the question again~
Oh! I thought of something. High Fantasy and Space-Sci Fi. I don’t mind writing either, but I don’t tend to read either. I tend to prefer reading both in contemporary settings, with a handful of exceptions.
Thank you for sharing!
