Comfort Zones

We all have them. I don't just mean, you know, personal space, either. Which is something not all of us have. I, for example, have no personal space because Luna is usually stomping all over it. By which I mean me. She has really sharp little hooves.
Where was I? Right. Comfort zones, and to be specific, comfort zones in terms of writing: if you write, you have something you always gravitate towards, that you find is... simplest to write about. Whether you know a lot about the subject or not, whether you portray it accurately or inaccurately, when you pick up a pen and sit down to write, there's usually one thing that floats immediately to the surface. Whether it does so as a coherent idea or not, you know that this story, these characters, are going to be involved in x, because... that's just what you want to write about.
The more we write, the better we do with things, and the better our writing gets as we practice. Sometimes the improvement is infinitesimal, other times you'll realize that "hey, this thing I just wrote is about  hundred times better than that thing I wrote!" But getting better by leaps or inches, what we much, much more quickly begin to settle into is the genre. The type. The ins and outs and turns that will begin to characterize our collective work.
Here's an example to compress everything. I write, and it's depressing and dark and scary. Actually, I was once classified as a 'dark romantic,' which... is accurate, whether I like it or not. And that was quickly established as where I was comfortable: writing other things... nonfiction, historical, comedy, all that, that's all difficult for me. I can do it, but I feel like I'm struggling a lot more when I make the attempt, I never feel as confident or as smooth.
And yet that in and of itself is why I sometimes try to write a different kind of poetry now and then, even a short story revolving around a different theme. Why when I work on longer novelizations, I attempt to mix in and touch on different genres, to force myself outside of my comfort zone. Because it forces you to deal with being uncomfortable, and pushing forwards anyway. It forces you to attempt to utilize different methods of writing, a different vocabulary, characters who do not adhere to the usual behaviors and patterns that you've grown used to. You need to attempt to create a completely different environment and atmosphere... and while I can almost guarantee that yes, you'll fail in your first few attempts to create a story that is as evocative or powerful as you want it, failing in the attempt doesn't make the attempt itself a failure: not when you're very likely to begin learning quite a bit about writing in a different tone, and evolving your style as a writer.
So write what you're not comfortable with from time to time. It can hurt, it can feel like a waste of time, and it's hard as hell, but you'll learn more from that one failed attempt about writing than you will from a success of a short story done inside your comfort zone.

~Scrivener Blooms