I find fantasy (urban or contemporary) easier to write, but I prefer to read science fiction.

My reading/writing habits have a similar disconnect. I write fantasy with romance elements, but I read very little fantasy these days (maybe 5-6 books/year out of a total of 80-100 books read). I read nonfiction, historical, romance, urban fantasy and SFF primarily, along with small amounts of mystery, general fiction and literary fiction. I think what's going on is I'm disappointed with what's available in fantasy right now, so I'm writing the fantasy books I want to read.

I still read majority SF/Fantasy, but the real reason I write it is because I read it in my formative years. I think that's why you do it too.

On the other hand, if you want to avoid cliché, I think it's very important to keep up with the field.

On a third hand, a lot of modern SF has departed from the straight-forward sense of wonder we all loved as kids and I think this is the main reason Fantasy has overtaken it in popularity. There is still SF of this type out there, but it is no longer the dominant life-form on the shelves.

Edited at 2009-12-09 03:09 pm (UTC)

Most of my output falls into the dark fantasy/horror category, and yet I read very little horror and never watch horror films. I'm a massive fan of writers like Pratchett and Jasper Fforde, but there's no use trying to follow those guys. :)

I'm all over the place, and that's pretty much my taste in reading. I find admirable stuff in every genre. I want to say it's character driven fiction that really draws my interest, but I really do like plot driven stuff too when I think about it.

I write science fiction, some with horror elements but the horror wouldn't stand on it's own. And I read mostly science fiction, with an occasional fantasy.

I wonder if this is more common than I'd originally thought. I rarely ever read horror or fantasy, yet that's where my writing tends to stray. I read literary fiction for the most part, unless friends have work out in other genres. But when I start to write stories, somehow that edgy, dark element comes in much of the time. When I was writing vampires (another genre I rarely read), I realized that I probably should know what's out there. I started reading vampire novels and was horribly disappointed in what was available, but also was enlightened about what's common now in the genre, what people will easily accept. I guess, as usual, a balance would be good.

I read mostly fantasy, the bloodier the better (heavy on paranormal, magic, and war) or post-apocalyptic type stuff (Everything is screwed. What do-u-do? Go!). I also like SF that doesn't overwhelm me science wise (No five page dissertation on physics, please).

I like to write fantasy mostly in line with what I read. What I can’t understand is why a romance element will meander through occasionally (shudder). I can't stand romance or chick lit, so I don’t understand when it shows up in my work. I guess that is my divergence.

i read fantasy with strong characters
i write fantasy with strong characters.
i will read the odd something else, something classical, perhaps. but never other genres, they hold no interset for me. im all about the fantasy

I write sci fi and fantasy, but I don't always read in those genres. What I go for is a character driven book and that could be anything. Just glancing over at one bookshelf, I can see romance, urban fantasy, horror, historical fiction, sci fi, fantasy and in this instance I have the Iliad. There are various other shelves in different parts of the house and all are more or less a broad mixture.

I tend to write scifi/fantasy as well as read it. I have occasional bouts of outside activity - I still pick up Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" once a year (I want desperately/NEED to read "Pride, Prejudice and Zombies") and the occasional romance still (generally authors I'm already a fan of, although I will branch out if the blurb sounds good). one thing I've noticed, however, is how genres nowadays seem to have blurred. For example, I'll go to the romance section and see what I consider Urban Fantasy with female heroines, or the Mystery section with paranormal elements. I'm just waiting for the Western section to have some sort of cowboy space opera and I'd be set. :)

I right in kind of a romantic comedy type genre, I guess, little love stories...but I never read that kind of thing, I usually read philosophy or sci fi adventure.

Horror and dark fantasy mostly with the occassional sci-fi thrown in. I am not particularly tied to any of them, but I do tend to get horror ideas.

You know what's weird is I tend to write more serious fantasy, if not dark fantasy, which I love to read, but I really like to read comedies. Among some of my favorite books growing up were Jon DeChancie's Castle Perilous series, Douglas Adams, Grant/Naylor, and many others that were just peppered with humor. I would have said I like to read sci-fi more than fantasy, but really the only sci-fi I like is Philip K. Dick. He writes like Borges and Marquez with rocket planes and occluded personalities and transdimensional crime stories. PKD really ought to be in his own genre.

I just find fantasy to be too, well, rigid to be enjoyed most of the time. I think it's because on many publisher's websites they say "Must have an established system of magic." Um, really? Why can't magic be magic? We do we have to have magic adhere to the laws of some made up system? Isn't that called "physics?"

If Merlin wants to fart Twizzlers at people, I say let him! Rules be damned!