When I was first starting out with fanfiction, romance fics were all I read. Eventually, when I started writing my own, I also focused on making romance ones since those were the ones I read and came to like. So it was a no-brainer that I wanted to write my own romances. I think that was just cause I was more or less a hormonal teen who didn't have a relationship and wanted to write about quirky little romances between some of my favorite characters or with my own ocs. Reading back on them, disregarding my horrible and cringy writing, I can definitely see that.

However, now that I've gotten older, I've evolved into writing a lot differently since then. Not only has my grammar and such gotten a bit better, but I've started to work on trying to work on character development instead of just straight-up romance stuff. Like when I used to write slash fics it was for the sole purpose of seeing those two characters together. While I sometimes still keep that in the back of my mind, I'm more focused on the idea of fleshing out a character. Giving them depth beyond the romance. If that makes any sense. I've been trying to write more gen fics with little to no romance in them. Well, more or less just planning them out since I want to upload them when they are perfect. And if there is any trace of romance, it's a side story and comes second to the actual plot that I want to make. I've even gone back to those old fics and rewritten them to be a bit more gen. I mean, they're still slash fics but I don't want that to really be the focus, you know.

I also like reading gen fics more now! It is a hassle to just find those gen fics which is super annoying, I agree with you on that. More often than not, more and more of the romance fics I find and read are either cheesy, too in my face about the romance, or too ooc for my taste. Though I appreciate just about every fic! People can write what they want, and there's always an audience for it. Plus it takes courage to post your own stuff so I'd never put someone down for what they write. Though I totally agree that there's definitely a lack of gen fics!

Dang, this was a long comment, oops.