Hm this is difficult to answer/pinpoint, but I guess I like to write mood pieces/character driven stories bc I'm not the best at plotting things. I'm more interested in exploring someone's feelings and internal struggles and how that manifests in how they behave/drive the story. I'd like to get better at plot driven stories too though, it's just difficult to pick up... For characters, would it be self centered if I said characters who are like me? Mostly because it's easier to make sense of their motivations as I can use my own experiences to parallel theirs. However I also like to try to challenge myself and try to write/investigate characters who cannot be more far away than me. I am personally of the opinion that every person shares more similarities than dissimilarities. I also find it interesting, for example, to see how they would react to certain situations and how they rationalize things in contrast w how i do it. So in short, the answer to both would be pieces or characters that allow me to understand myself or others better.