Author’s commentary

Hey guys, the author Nakama the witnesser here. Thank you for reading volume 2 of lust for truth. Another volume has passed which means its time for another author’s commentary. I enjoy doing these. Anyways, I’m really glad that I wrote this, I was hesitant to continue this series given that its not that popular and I felt that volume 1 finale was a pretty good ending. But nah, I am absolutely in love with the story and its world and as much as I don’t like to play favorites, it is personally my favorite out of all of my own creations.

This volume was quite daring in some fields. Specifically there is a lot of social commentaries and world building which I absolutely enjoyed writing. The world of lust for truth is quite similar to ours except the cultures are jumbled up together and the countries are named and positioned differently. I am kinda inclined to show the map of Elenrago as a country but at the time of this author’s commentary I am writing volume 4 and the map may change depending on the story.

If you want to read volume 3 and onwards you can check out my kofi page and buy the document. There are also some extra info like the scribbles I used to plan out the story and timeline of events etc.

Regarding the murder mystery

When writing the mystery for this volume, I really wanted to challenge myself and to expand myself out of certain dogmas and beliefs I had when it comes to writing mysteries. Usually the cases I write have a lot of witness testimonies and tricks the culprit pull off on the scene of the crime. But this crime was committed by a highly financed and aggressive group so they just decided to massacre everyone on the scene to leave no witnesses. And the crucial evidence that convicted the culprit(Salim) was found completely elsewhere.

I also kind of think it fits Salim’s mentality. The dude is very blunt and straightforward in his approach to problems, including murder methods. But he was tricky enough to frame one of his colleagues for this crime and ultimately that was his mistake that gets him caught.

Yes, I know some people have issues with the culprit overcomplicating their crime and getting caught cause of it rather than doing a simple straightforward plan and getting away with it. But come on, there is no fun in the culprit doing everything too straightforwardly. Plus, the idea of Salim cosplaying as a woman is hilarious.

One thing I definitely realized was that making the culprit physically weak has a lot of benefits and makes the cases interesting and complicated without feeling like culprit overcomplicated things. Hori was a highschool girl who probably would have difficulty stabbing the victim directly because of both physically and mentally. So, she had to rely on her wits and poison to kill the target without much blood on her own hands. Nile couldn’t just drag his target out of the mansion while everyone else was watching so he had to come up with the trick of hiding his partner inside the rabbit figure and placing it inside Mew’s room.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Whereas this case, Salim and co definitely felt they achieved their goals a lot leisurely. They just went into the scene and started blasting and even had the opportunity to frame someone too. But everything is what it is and everything has its advantage and disadvantages. This is probably the first case I wrote where the detectives had to roam around different districts and bunch of different places to find clues for the culrpit because the scene of the crime just doesn’t have enough evidence. Plus I always love it when in any detective story where the investigators have to jog their memories to an event that happened way in the past to find the culprit of the present case.

As a kid, I used to have a toy gun that actually looked and weighed like a real gun, it was an inspiration for this case. I also looked up a ton of internet privacy related articles to write this case. No way I’m an expert on the topic but regardless it was interesting learning. But I admit, I forgot a lot of it by the time I’m writing this. And the Baelix being hacked and opening the front door was inspired by a real life testing where voice assistant like Alexa were hacked and can be ordered to do certain things. Last I heard, Amazon fixed it, so don’t quote me on that. Being able to give the voice assistant a command through sounds that cannot be heard by the ear is also a real life thing.

And that’s what’s really amazing and fun thing about writing with research. Fiction is already fictitious. The more absurd things get, the relatability decreases but on the opposite end writing about something everyone knows from real life is boring. So doing scientific research and writing from things I learned was really fun. It really made me realize that life was truly stranger than fiction.

Of course, I’m not saying writing supernatural things is bad. One of my favorite cases I wrote for a discord murder mystery game was a virtual reality case where the suspects had access to certain supernatural abilities but with obvious limitations and mana cost when using them.

I guess, the takeaway is just write something you enjoy. And don’t be afraid to take your time doing research. We’re not here to rush to gain fame and money, we’re here to enjoy, learn and share. That can be writing with research or writing supernatural stuff. It’s just as a kid, I really enjoyed writing supernatural things and thought real life things were kinda boring but I really don’t think that now. The devil is in the detail and while it's fun seeing people throw energy blasts and crash mountains, it’s also really engaging to witness the battle of logic between regular detectives.

Or rather the message should be, enjoy what you write. Cause really there is no right or wrong writing. Whatever you write and wherever you go, you’ll be in life and life is…pretty cool. It’s better to appreciate the present, what you have and what you are doing rather than contemplating and worrying about whether you’re perfect or whether you’re doing better than other people.