Top 10 Signs You're Reading My Fiction

This is one of the cooler memes I've seen. It started on Fangs, Fur, & Fey and propagated on Wyrdsmiths. The original was specific to novels, but until I've finished another, it will be difficult to generalize about mine. This post includes my short stories.

1. The main character is not integrated into their society. Yes, this says a lot about me.
2. You won't see a lot of central romance. The romance you will see is usually more a flag for a change in outlook. This says much less about me, except, perhaps, that I don't equate romance with drama. What can I say? I'm happy.
   
3. Fear is a greater motivator than danger, and there are lots of things scarier than death.
4. Work and economic circumstances are a strong presence in the story and may drive the plot.
5. The past often plays a larger role than the present.
6. Narrators (and close POV characters) are sort of reliable. That is, they won't lie to you, but their outlook is limited or their focus narrow.
7. Characters are not all able-bodied and -minded.
   
8. Families, if relevant, are small and have frequently been pared down by circumstance.
   
9. Someone is going to discover that their deeply held beliefs about the world aren't so much wrong as based on incomplete information. This will be critical to the resolution of the plot.
10. Reading over this list, it seems a little grim, but the endings of most of my stories are cheerful, triumphant or both.