No Specialty

When people first hear that I'm a writer, they inevitably ask, "You write fiction? What genre?"

"Yes." Then I explain that I don't specialize.

I thought I would. I'm a voracious reader of just about anything, but my preference is science fiction and fantasy. In the fourth grade, I wrote a fantasy inspired by Robin Hood, and in the fifth and sixth grades, I wrote science fiction.

During high school, I wrote teen angst. Maybe that's how I coped with my insecurities. In looking back, I realize there was romance in those teen stories. By my senior year, I had gotten quite mean to my heroines, subjecting them to such things as rape and unwed pregnancy. A huge problem like that seemed far more interesting than yet another version of, "Will Johnny ask me to the dance?"

Eventually I found myself writing fanfiction. I got to know other fan fiction writers, and a couple fan editors, and received much encouragement. I still write fan fiction, from time to time, for my own entertainment. But name the genre I write most? That's hard to do. Off the top of my head, I've currently got:

12 fantasy short stories, either done and looking for a new home or between rewrites
10 science fiction shorts, some looking for a new home, some in rewrite, 2 banished to a drawer because they won't behave
5 paranormal shorts in various stages
4 fantasy novels in assorted stages, 1 actually looking for a new home
3 contemporary romance novels in diverse stages
3 science fiction novels attempting to 'gel'
3 Regency Romances patiently waiting their turn
2 paranormal novels beginning to take shape
2 westerns rounding up the details
2 'Batman' stories looking for a villain
1 gothic novella trying to grip an editor
1 fantasy/mystery short assembling the clues
1 fantasy/mystery novel hiding in the shadows
and ♩ a partridge ♫ in ♬ a pear ♪ tree!

Woops! I mean, The Trilogy I Dare Not Write! Which is a science fiction/romance.

Specialize? Only so far as I have no interest in writing non-fiction. So, what genre do I write? Yes.