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Exactly. Just in my Year Group back at High School there were about ten as an estimate, girls dropping out to have children. It's disturbing!

Edward: Haha, oh yes the old homosexuality taboo. Every time someone asks me what I write, I wish I hadn't answered. The looks you get... I am proud of writing it and I don't think anyone should be ashamed of it just...it makes you sad to see it is still seen as...weird. (That just might be because I am female and writing it) Oh, and as a sidenote, love the BDSM hahaha.

Screw audience opinion. Write what you want first and foremost. If it you really can't get published without changing something major, well, you can cross that bridge when you get to it. (This is an opinion--I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't have to change your story just to satisfy the masses. Does it hinder my getting published? Yes. Do I care? At the moment, not really. But that could change.)

And it's totally okay for you to be writing about a religion that isn't your own, provided you do the research and don't make it out to be something it isn't.

I honestly agree with that, Phade. You are your own worst critic, after all.

I do not know about the rest of you, but part of the reason I write is because I am admittedly picky about what I read (and when I find something worthwhile, I latch on like nobody's business). I write stories I want to see that I have yet to find anywhere else (and I am sure they exist and I may not be looking in the right places, but doing it yourself guarantees you get what you want).

I actually followed this rule a lot back in my fanfiction days (and once in a blue moon, I still do write it). There was fanfiction I was tired of, so I wrote something I wanted to see. I still amaze myself with the results, and have since applied it to my own original fiction.

Just...do not entirely shirk your audience. Understand that while you are writing for yourself, there is a fine line between an awesome story that puts uncomfortable tropes to good use, and one that just serves as fetish fuel for the author. If you intend to publish, keep even a tiny sliver of your audience in mind.

With me, I want to read one romance novel where the romance does not work out. I also want to read more "monster mashes." Outside of comedy (like Scooby-Doo), kiddie horror (one appeal of Goosebumps: HorrorLand to me is that all the monsters/villains team up and work together), and settings with a kind of Halloween Town (The titular film, Nightmare Before Christmas, numerous kid books about monster schools), they are relatively hard to find, and when they do crop up, they focus mostly on vampires and/or werewolves...

I like vampires and werewolves as much as the next person, but what about Frankenstein's monster (I admit, I sort of have a fetish >> ), or mummies or ghouls or demons or invisible men or other strange things that go bump in the night?

And even with the vampires and werewolves, why do a lot of them have to be pretty, or have personalities that are more or less the same (i.e., female vampires tend to be slutty, catty bitches)?

It is a good way to write: find what you hate and make it into something you want to see.

Nightmare, writing what I've wanted (but haven't been able) to read is a major motivator for me.
Often reading other books inspires me to write more, because all I'm thinking is, "That was kind of lame. I can do way better".

And I could just rant for ages about cliche characters. In fact, as of the last two years I've read less and less because I get frustrated everytime a book is too cliche (which is nearly everytime,)
Which almost makes me wonder if I've read too much- almost nothing impresses me anymore and its a little... disheartening.

Every point you made about monsters I completely agree with. So many steroetypes that authors will never break out of. I would LOVE to read a book where the 'bad guys' weren't a bunch of bumbling idiots, and teamed up.
And don't even get me started on catty sluts.

I realize I've been gone for awhile, but, I'm gonna comment on it anyway since it's my thread and I can. ^_^

Nightmare, you said something about not entirely shirking your audience. I have to admit that I have never, EVER, thought about my readers when I'm writing a piece of fiction. I write what I want and what I like. I honestly don't think I know how to write for an audience.

I am also a picky reader. I haven't found a good fantasy that wasn't plot-driven or poorly/not decently written in a long time. I have to fall in love with a character to keep reading, and it's just really hard to do with the fantasy genre, as the focus is more on the magic and the plot than the people.

Writing from the antagonist's POV is an endeavor I've never really tried. That's probably because I've never truly had an 'evil' character. I'm a strong believer in the idea of perception, and how different events are perceived by different characters. That being said, no one is actually 'bad,' they just have different viewpoints. Even if they think humanity is a plague upon the earth, they have reasons for thinking so that are justifiable to them.

Robin hood is supposedly the hero (this is going off the very basic legend of him), but he's a thief. He steals from the rich to give to the poor. Okay. But did anyone ever stop to think that the rich might have worked hard to become rich? Or that the poor are poor because they're lazy, not just because they're being overtaxed? And exactly who is to say they're being overtaxed? Have they ever tried running a kingdom? Economy slump, hello?

Frankenstein's monster just wanted to be accepted, and when he couldn't, he became what everyone wanted him to be. It's not how we'd imagine it should turn out, but, when you think about it, adhering to the idea that you are what people thought you are and want you to be is kind of like being accepted.

Sephiroth from FFVII wanted to give the world back to the Ancients, the little Mama's boy.

So, unless your character is just trying to destroy the world because s/he can, I can see why it would be hard to keep them looking 'evil.'

The only character I've ever seen be truly evil (which actually isn't his fault--they made him insane before the story began), is Kefka from FFVI.

No necessarily.

Slappy's Nightmare is probably my favorite of Stine's books not only because of formula reversal, but because he makes Slappy sympathetic while playing up just how evil he is, to the point where you are simultaneously going, "Aww, that sucks!" and "You b*****d!" He goes through a lot of hardships over the course of the book (he has to do three good deeds to stay alive and they keep getting ruined) and is still an ungrateful b*****d when things end up working out for him in the end (which makes the twist that much more satisfying).

The thing you have to keep in mind is that while the character may be the viewpoint character, he is still bad and is going to do bad things. While Slappy did have to struggle to do good, his methods and line of thinking were...questionable. To give an example, at one point, he considered killing another character because when he legitimately did something good, she screwed it up so badly that he was back to square one. He figured that if he managed to kill her (and thus nipping that problem in the bud), comforting her sister while she grieved would count as a good deed.

You understand where he is coming from. You see that this other character is an obstacle who keeps ruining everything he does (we have all had those days, and we all know someone like that...). But you still recognize that he is evil because his method of dealing with it is not something a "good" character would do. Another person might think, "Wow, maybe I should find an opportunity when this character is not around...or get another character on my side." Not Slappy. He is going to take the most direct, "You need to die so I can live" approach. His selfishness (which has been established in previous books) acts as a hindrance in both his line of thinking and in getting what he wants.

The same concept applies here. Show your character's line of thinking. Show his goals and obstacles. Show how he executes said goals and overcomes said obstacles. And most of all, keep it consistent with his established character. Your audience is not stupid, and they will pick up on it.

Princess: The fact that my attempts to branch out tend to be a crapshoot is one reason why I stick to things I know I like. I rarely ever buy books to give them a chance. The last one I bought in good faith was called Expiration Date by Duane Swiercznsky. And that was because I had time to skim through it and see that the writing style and story was something I could read (I did not regret that purchase. Considering I ponder spending a buck at a thrift store for the entire time I am there, forking over $15 for a book I was unsure about says something about the glimpse I got).

I want to see more variety of monsters, personally. And while I admit my vampire characters are starting to increase in numbers, I have a lot of other kinds of monsters to counter it, and am always looking to put more in. I also make it a point that standards of beauty vary from creature to creature. For example, one of my characters has wings and thinks others look strange without them. My werewolves look for strength and resilience in partners as opposed to a pretty face.

Bad guys teaming up sounds amazing to me. Honestly, outside of horror comedies, I want to see vampires and werewolves team up. I rarely see a reason for this other than, "it is so cool!"

I have rants for all kinds of things I am sick of in various genres of fiction.

Edited to add: See, I actually considered that when I wrote one of my antagonists. I put him at the top and made him the king of his world so that was already out of the way so I could focus more on who he was and his family politics, which I find more interesting than ruling the world.

Phade: I, too, have written for myself, but I do keep in mind an audience. It helps me to put another perspective on my work so to speak. "If I were a reader, would the way this is worded accurately portray what I want to express?" That kind of thing.

@Nightmare: there's so much I want to say, but chatting in a forum kind of limits me. I have the feeling you and I could rant together for hours on end.
I've only ever purchased two books, The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer, and another less notable book that made me laugh. Now I just buy art books.
I've never been especially into mosters, but I do enjoy reading about werewolves, and if you ever wrote a romance (however unlikely that may sound) using what you've said about finding a mate, I'd love to read it. In fact, if you wrote any romance where the girl wasn't actually beautiful, I'd like it (beauty is overrated).
And here I've said that monsters aren't in my interest base, but I will readily admit I haven't found alot outside of pure horror and vampires.
I'm always weary of putting vampires in my book because they're quickly becoming cliche, when in fact, my book does not focus on vampires. Only one or two characters represent the race among many other creatures. The vampire characteristics almost never have anything to do with the plot.

By the way, I didn't catch exactly how your edit was related to the rest of the post... did you mean to leave it for someone else?

@Desert: Your character makes me shiver. I'm a bit of a wimp though, and won't even watch more than a couple murder mysteries a month (as amazing as Castle and Bones are).