I am not a writer. I will say that up front. My passion does not lie in text (visual arts, costuming, and rabbit rescue, thank you very much). I have no aspirations of being a "real writer" and writing original stuff in addition to fanfic. I write fanfic because it's a more entertaining way to get my own views on the subject matter across to people than just writing an essay. (That, and the occasional experiment to see if I "can really write that too".) I think most people, at least nowadays, write it for different reasons than I do - because they want certain things to have happened, or to happen post-canon. I write it because I want to explore what did happen, and the possible causes/effects. Even if I wind up not being pleased about the eventual outcome. Heck, especially if I wind up not being pleased about the eventual outcome. ;)

On the other hand, I seem to be unable to write endings to fics that leave characters worse off than before. Very seldom will you get a happy story out of me, unless it's in the "comedy" category, but I have to at least have made the character learn something by the end, and things will almost always be on the upswing.

When I write, it is almost always gen. Even if it contains a romance, romance is never the point of the fic. This is because romance mostly bores the crap out of me. I think I have exactly one OTP (which should be pretty obvious, looking at the stories I've written), and don't tend to read any fic whose pairing is in the summary. Unless the pairing is on a lot of crack and I think it'll be funny. :D

...Actually, I don't tend to read fanfic at all, to be honest. So sue me.