Inquiring Minds

I was recently at a mystery writers panel at the Virginia State Library in Richmond, Va. One of the questions we were asked by our moderator was about our craft—no not the craft of writing, but the craft we’re using in our books. Why did we choose it? It gave me pause.
I had never thought to write a “scrapbooking mystery” when I first started writing SCRAPBOOK OF SECRETS. In fact, when I first started writing it, I thought of it more as women’s fiction. But as I started down that path during National Novel Writing month a few years back, something didn’t feel right. But I kept writing.
I had disjointed narratives, characters coming and going, and a big bunch of adjectives and adverbs going nowhere. I mentioned it to my agent, who helped me place the mystery structure to it. She said, “It sounds like a mystery.” Hmph.
The next thing I knew I was on creative fire and couldn’t stop writing it. And wouldn’t you know it, my favorite hobby was front and center in the story line. Funny how that happens.
The thing about hobbies is that if you have one, it’s bound to find it’s way in to your writing. It’s not forced or strained—or just a marketing strategy. Well, for most of us, that is. And scrapbooking isn’t just about pretty paper. There’s also a puzzle quality to it, a social aspect, and a deeper meaning to it.
In the first book in my Cumberland Creek Series, the mystery is partially solved by the scrapbookers through scrapbooking. I wouldn’t have a plot without it. In my second book, the same scrapbookers are tearing apart a scrapbook of a mysterious nature to figure things out.
So I wonder about this subgenre of mystery. And I wonder about our readers. Do you read a book just because it includes a hobby you’re interested in? Or is the writer you follow? The mystery? What is it?
For the writers out there, what comes first when you get an idea for a novel—your craft? Your story? Your characters?
Sorry for being so full of questions today, but inquiring minds, dontchyaknow.