Chapter 158: The Clash Between the Honkaku School and the Social School

Is joining the Mystery Writers Association not entirely beneficial for me?

Upon hearing these words, Akiwara Yuto was momentarily puzzled.

In his view, if he wanted to continue climbing in the literary world, the three most important points were works, connections, and reputation, all of which he had learned through his experiences over the past six months.

For a writer, their work is the foundation of everything; without excellent works, everything else is just a moon reflected in water or a flower in a mirror.

After all, writers without any presentable works often cannot even afford to eat due to poor sales, let alone consider the future.

When Keigo Higashino first debuted, he won the Edogawa Rampo Prize with "After School," and his works became bestsellers, earning him quite a bit of money.

But after that, his works consistently failed to meet market positioning and could not sell.

Because of his impoverished life, the conflict between him and his wife grew, to the point that he divorced his wife of 14 years before he made a comeback by winning the Naoki Prize.

In fact, writers like Keigo Higashino who can make a comeback are in the minority. The vast majority of ordinary writers, once they decline, often choose to withdraw from the literary world entirely.

Besides works, connections and reputation are also things that should be valued.

Although these two are byproducts brought about by one's works, in Akiwara Yuto's view, if he could join the Writers Association, he could reduce the time spent acquiring these two byproducts.

After all, if he had possessed a certain level of social influence or connections from the start, like Seto Tamae or Miyagawa Yosuke,

how would Takei Kohei and Kihara Daigo have dared to blacklist him?

Akiwara Yuto pondered for a while, but still could not think of any disadvantage to joining the association, so he looked up and asked, "Mr. Miyagawa, what do you mean?"

Miyagawa Yosuke picked up his teacup and took a sip, "Mr. Akiwara, don't be in a rush. I want to ask you a question first: what is your definition of mystery?"

"What is the definition?"

Akiwara Yuto frowned and began to think.

He felt a bit speechless; dealing with writers was truly exhausting. Things that could be explained in a few sentences always had to be beaten around the bush.

Forget it, he was still a junior after all; he should just answer honestly.

After a while, he said slowly, "In my humble opinion, the essence of mystery is a way of unraveling a story's puzzle through deduction. The most critical parts are the design of the puzzle and the method of deduction and resolution."

Miyagawa Yosuke nodded and followed up, "Then, what do you think is the most important point of a mystery?"

"The most important point?" Akiwara Yuto was a bit puzzled.

He weighed it repeatedly for a while before answering in an uncertain tone, "I think it is the story-driven nature, or the entertainment value."

In Akiwara Yuto's view, no matter what it is, the story-driven nature is the first prerequisite. As for human nature or the methods of deduction and resolution, they are merely techniques used to enhance the story.

Readers often cannot even bring themselves to read works that lack a story-driven nature, let alone consider other aspects.

However, there was clearly no standard answer to this question; it was just that everyone had their own thoughts.

That was why he used an uncertain tone when answering.

But to Akiwara Yuto's surprise, Miyagawa Yosuke laughed, clearly very satisfied with this answer.

At the same time, Kawai Shinta also smiled and took over the conversation, "Mr. Akiwara, I wonder what your views are on the current classification of genres, such as the Honkaku school and the Social school?"

Akiwara Yuto frowned and replied, "I don't have any particular views. I think the works of these schools are just types of mystery; as long as they satisfy the readers, that is enough."

In his previous life, Japan was influenced by Western detective culture. The first to start was undoubtedly the Honkaku school, and its representative figures were Edogawa Rampo, known as the "Father of Japanese Detective Mystery," and Seishi Yokomizo, the author of Kindaichi.

In the 1950s, the 41-year-old Seicho Matsumoto debuted and drove the popularity of Social school works. After that, many contemporary writers were deeply influenced by him, and quite a few even switched from the Honkaku school to the Social school.

Then in the 80s, Soji Shimada, known as the "God of Mystery," released "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders," announcing the birth of the "New Honkaku school."

Under his influence, many writers once again held high the banner of "reviving Honkaku" and began a counterattack against the Social school.

As for other schools like the Courtroom school, Suspense school, or Hardboiled school, due to their influence, they were merely embellishments in the clash between the Honkaku and Social schools.

However, the Social school in this world, although it sprouted early, had always been in an "awkward position" due to the lack of a leading figure like Seicho Matsumoto.

And New Honkaku was more of a self-innovation within the Honkaku school, rather than a counterattack against the Social school.

Kawai Shinta nodded after hearing Akiwara Yuto's words, "Mr. Akiwara, I am very happy to hear your point of view. But within the Mystery Writers Association, there are many different voices."

"Different voices?" Akiwara Yuto asked in confusion.

"That's right. In the last ten years or so, the group of Honkaku and New Honkaku writers has grown larger and larger, and many of them have become high-level members of various judging committees and the association. Many of them believe that so-called mystery works should only include the so-called Honkaku school, that is, focusing on the design of tricks."

"Under the efforts of these writers, more and more awards have been given to Honkaku works, and even the circle of book reviewers has been significantly influenced." Kawai Shinta finished this sentence and took a sip of tea, "If this continues, works from other mystery genres will inevitably head toward decline."

Akiwara Yuto did not expect to hear these words; he lowered his head and began to think.

If it were truly as this Chairman Kawai said, then Honkaku and New Honkaku would inevitably grow stronger in the future, while the living space for the Social school and other genres would only be further squeezed.

After all, for the public, they don't care what genre you are; they only care if the work has won any awards and whether it is recommended by book reviewers.

If they cannot get awards or book review recommendations, many ordinary writers of other genres might not even be able to afford to eat.

But what does this have to do with him?

Akiwara Yuto began to think.

No, it seems it cannot be considered unrelated. The works in his mind, besides the dozen or so Japanese mystery works, also include many foreign classics.

But no matter which country they are from, they are filled with many Social school and other genre works. If these works cannot get awards and book reviews, he would still have a bit of a headache...

Come to think of it, what does the struggle between these schools have to do with joining the Mystery Writers Association? How did it get dragged into this?

Akiwara Yuto looked up and raised his doubts to Chairman Kawai.

Upon hearing the question, Kawai Shinta did not answer immediately, but said, "Mr. Akiwara, are you aware of the standards for joining the association?"

Akiwara Yuto nodded, "I have seen it in 'Mystery Literature.' The standard for members of the Mystery Writers Association seems to be that they must be writers who have debuted for more than 3 years."

"Yes, this rule is fixed, but besides this, there is another regulation that can bypass this standard." Kawai Shinta looked around and continued, "If three senior members of the association recommend it, then this writer can also be invited to join the association, even if the person has not debuted for 3 years."

Akiwara Yuto nodded subconsciously.

No wonder they invited him over today and even gave him a test; these must be the procedures for inviting him.

"But the problem lies right here." Kawai Shinta shook his head, "Mr. Akiwara, if the three of us invite you to join, you will inevitably be labeled with our school's tag."

Labeled?

Akiwara Yuto reacted immediately, but after thinking about it, he felt it was true.

After all, in the eyes of other writers, he was invited by this Chairman Kawai and the other two; if he didn't support their views, others wouldn't believe it either.

But is this good or bad for him? In other words, should he accept the invitation?