This month we'll focus on Rainer Salt and the "Egg at Dumstreet".
You heard me right. Egg.
Very important, the first victim in this murder mystery actually. Set in mountainous Tavatia, a US citizen gets into trouble with the local law - not because he doesn't clean the steps when it is his turn. But because... Ah, I think you should read this, it's a great story, full of dry witty humour. "The Egg at Dumstreet" was book of the month in June and we can really recommend it.
Tell me Rainer, did you have trouble with your omelette or what inspired you to write this delightful story?
Rainer: Hmm, when I was around thirty, I lived as a tenant in a house that was very reminiscent of Dumstreet 9, where most of the scenes of the book take place. Some characters in that book are, in fact, inspired by my neighbours at that place. However, before you jump to any premature conclusion: neither the egg nor the unfortunate demise of any of the book's characters is based on real events. And no eggs were harmed while writing it... well, to be honest, the one on the book's cover was scrambled after its modelling act, which would probably count as 'being harmed'. But, at least, I didn't kill anyone.
Adultfiction: That's a relief! But it's amazing to hear what can serve as inspiration for mystery novels. Talking of mystery - what prompted you to swap genres? You mainly write SciFi and Dystopian fantasy. Or did before? Just curious...
Rainer: I read somewhere that writing outside your usual genre is a good way to hone writing skills. So I decided to give that a try.
I looked for a genre that is heavy on 30+ readers because that's who I wanted to write for, and I think Mystery is a good place to find them.
Adultfiction: Ah! So you were looking for a more adult audience. That makes sense—
Rainer: Don't get me wrong, though. SciFi does have a surprisingly adult audience. There are plenty of experienced, wonderful folks out there. But still, I was looking for an alternative genre where #grownupreads would fit in.
Adultfiction: Glad you chose mystery, for that is my favourite genre. No, I'm not biased at all. Ehem. Where were we? Ah - Mystery. Tell me, what is the trickiest part about mystery writing?
Rainer: In general, any story that is placed in the real world (as opposed to Fantasy or SciFi) has to play by a lot of rules. For example, if your plot calls for someone to be arrested as a suspect and you're writing Fantasy or SciFi, you just can send in the Evil Guards or the Vogons and get the job done. No one will question you because arresting someone is what Evil Guards and Vogons do. If the plot plays in the real world and is supposed to be plausible, you have to check out the rules. The police won't go around arresting suspects at a whim. To take someone into custody, additional criteria have to be met, such as a potential threat to the public or a strong enough risk that the suspect might try to run. And that's just an example. There are so many things in our daily (or not so daily) lives that are being played by certain rules, and I had to look up a lot of details to make the plot plausible (and I'm sure I still have missed a lot of them).
Writing Mystery is even harder because it takes a lot of planning. Placing hints and red herrings along the way is an important element of the kind of story I wanted to write. And you can't do that unless you have a pretty clear picture of how the plot will evolve... or you need to re-edit your story after its first draft... or maybe both.
Adultfiction: We need to publish this interview on the mystery profile as well . . . You point out a lot of important stuff that mystery writers need to know! Okay, setting mysteries aside for a bit, tells us where did your love of books/storytelling, reading/writing/etc. come from?
Rainer: As most people on WP, I've always been an avid reader, but the idea of writing never crossed my mind. Then, one day, I got myself an account here because I wanted to read something my daughter was writing. And, as most Wattpadders know, once you are here, it's hard not to start creating a book of your own. And when I tried, I realised that writing is a lot of fun. The process of writing per se is fun, but also the interaction with other people in this place.
Adultfiction: True. One meets a global community of wordies on Wattpad and that is pretty amazing. So, having met all these people. What inspires you? Where do your stories come from?
Rainer: Some of these stories have lurked in my mind for years, without any hope to be ever written. So when I finally wrote them, they (i.e. the stories) were so shocked that it still shows. Others were inspired by my daily life, such as the one I wrote after a discussion with my teenage son about the way computer games are designed to be addictive.
The writing contests here in WP are another great source of inspiration. In fact, a contest over at the @Mystery profile was another incentive for writing something in this genre.
Adultfiction: Contests seem to be a major driver for novels. Okay peeps - take note here and watch out for the next contest!!! Now, this all sounds rather positive. Let's look at the dark underbelly. Is there something you don't like about this place?
Or rather - how can we improve it?
Rainer: That's a good question. The @AdultFiction profile is one of the things that make this place better, but it's not enough. Let me explain.
Peers are very important to every human being. We are wired to seek out peers, we want to interact with those having similar background, humour, interests, thoughts, beliefs, or whatever memes are important to us. We want to exchange views with them (mostly to have our own views confirmed), and we want to hear what they think about us (mostly because we crave for praise).
So, when I started to get the hang of WP, I was instinctively searching for peers. And that was quite hard. Since I'm not really into teenage stories or FanFic, I had to look for the needles in that cliché haystack. My wife, by the way, did the same, but she lost interest before she found the first of those needles (in her case these were well-written books in German for the 30+ crowd, which is a rare commodity here).
And having a good peer group is an awesome incentive for inspired writing.
So, making it easier to find your peer group (i.e. community) would be one way to make WP more attractive. There are more and more specialised profiles here, such as @AdultFiction, but it takes real effort to find them, especially if they cater to minorities such as this one. I feel it would be in WP's interest to make them more visible. At present, WP is laid out to find books only, and it lacks a good user interface to find communities. If there were, in the user interface (and not hidden somewhere in some Wattpad book, Club threads, or in the help pages) a (moderated) list of the official communities (official profiles) and a short description of what they are, it would be much easier to find them.
WP should not forget that all these communities offer an opportunity for targeted advertising... This is particularly true for @AdultFiction: Demographically speaking, we are the ones who make the budget decisions in our households while we expose our innermost feelings in this place. We are a marketer's dream...
Adultfiction: So, what you are saying is that WP should explore ways of how to help readers connect with others like them? To foster a community feeling that goes beyond books but into the reader community?
Rainer: Hmm... As I said before, the problem starts with finding the people sharing your interests. And, you're right, once you find them, they must be embedded in a community. This community has to pamper two crowds:
1. The readers: They need moderated lists of high-quality books, and they need reviews.
2. The writers: For them, the community feeling you mention is crucial. It motivates and inspires them, and it keeps them coming back to Wattpad. Think contests, virtual flash mobs, discussions, collaborative writing, whatever encourages interaction.
There are the Clubs (or forums) of course, but they are only available on the website and not in the app, so they are invisible to most users. But even if they were better visible, they lack focus and direction (except for some special-purpose, moderated forums). Any good community needs some degree of gouvernance to keep it functional. Also, their thread-based architecture makes it difficult for new users to find what's important and what isn't.
But I'm digressing... Yes, the community feeling within a group of peers is important, and WP should foster this feeling.
Adultfiction: Thank you for this interview!!
Oh and, everybody - The Egg at Dumstreet came first place in the Mystery Section of the "Iron Lace Awards" at Wattpad. And overall, it came second. So, Dumstreet truly has the hottest eggs on Wattpad. Congrats, Rainer!