Warning
This chapter is not really about werewolf fiction. It is mainly about the new #grownupreads tag and the new official AdultFiction profile (scroll down for details). But it does start with a foray into w-wolfdom.

#Wherewolves?

Did you know that there are no less than 31 books tagged #wherewolves in this place? And 72 about #wearwolves?

Did you ever wonder what these are about?

Unable to rest before we* had an answer, we* set out on a quest to discover the secrets of w-wolf tags. We* descended into the fascinating world of transformative Canoidea, interviewed experts, authors, alphas, and gammas, dodged fangs and claws, and scratched bellies of soft fur. And we* survived to tell the tale.

So here is a list of the secret tags used by the close-knit, tight-lipped w-wolf community:

#wearwolves: Stories about wolf furs worn as fashion accessories. At full moon, they come alive and attack their owners.

#wherewolves: Stories about wolves with a poor sense of direction. They usually end sadly, with individual animals straying from their packs, unable to find their way back, and dying lonely in the wild.

#weirwolves: Stories about wolves who go dam-busting (eveloy).

#we-re-wolves: 1st person plural POV stories about wolves.

#'warewolves: Stories about VERY dangerous wolves... (elveloy).

#wharewolves: stories about wolves who've moved to NZ (eveloy).

#worewolves: Stories about people who wore #wearwolves (they usually have tragic endings).

#veerwolves: Stories about wolves driving cars and forgetting to operate their turn signals.

#weewolves: Stories about small wolves. Or wolves with bad bladder control (linahanson).

#whywolves: I guess they always say the same thing, don't they, BindingTies?

#warewolves: These work in shipping (eveloy).

#weeweewolves: These are the ones who pee (HardeeBurger).

#weeweeweewerewolves: ...and the small ones who pee (HardeeBurger).

#whorewolves: Speaks for itself (elveloy).

#wiiwolves: Stories about game addicts.

These tags can be combined. Here's an example of a multi-tagged w-wolf story:

***

Once upon a time, there was a weewolf, daughter of a wherewolf. She was barely in her teens when she got lost in the depths of the big, bad forest (she had inherited her mother's poor sense of direction—in other words, she was, in fact, a weewherewolf).

The weewolf, who—surprisingly—went by the name of Bella, swore (which made her a swearwolf) for having left her smartphone at home. That was when she heard paw steps in the gloom between the tree trunks. 'Warewolves! The bane of all transformative Canoidea. Bella ran as fast as her legs would carry her, dashing through the undergrowth like a furred arrow.

It was hours later, her pursuers lost in the trees behind her, that she found an ornately painted wooden hut. Her body was aching, and her throat was parched. She was unable to go any further, so she knocked on the door.

It turned out that the house was the home of a sweet, old couple of wharewolves. They took her in and cared for her lovingly. Bella reminded them of the daughter they had had, many years ago. Unfortunately, the girl had been a weeweeweewerewolf and had drowned in an unfortunate incident involving a bathtub and lack of parental supervision.

Bella was just settling in and getting used to her new family when, one day, the two wharewolves went shopping and failed to return. Waiting for them, she got bored and started to play on a game console she had borrowed from a wiiwolf friend.

The phone rang. It was the police. They told her the sad news. The two wharewolves had been killed in an accident caused by a veerwolf taking a left turn without operating his turn signals.

This left Bella crying. The thought of the wharewolves now being wearwolves wrenched her heart.

After that, she was unable to cope, to hold things together. Her life went down the drain.

Today, she's walking the streets, a whorewolf, a whinewolf, a fearwolf, a tearwolf, a torn wolf...

***

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* Who is "us"? The names have been mentioned above, and I hope I haven't forgotten anyone who contributed.

***

***

How this came to be

It all began with a recent foray of mine into Wattpad's forums (a.k.a. clubs). I went there because I had started on my first book specifically written for a grown up audience ("The Egg at Dumstreet"—do check it out!). When I published it, I wondered how to tag it for that readership. #adult wouldn't work, nor #mature—I wasn't aiming for that.

So I went to the Clubs and asked what tag to use. The reaction was... overwhelming, hilarious, elucidating, fascinating, and groundbreaking. The discussion percolated into another, similar thread and gave birth to a completely new one (in case anyone is interested, I'll put the links into a comment below).

The tag

First things first, what tag should one use for marking a story that's neither YA, nor New Adult, but directed at a readership roughly in the 30+ crowd? Discussions went back and forth, with #adultfic, #adultfiction being mentioned often, but it finally culminated in MargariteMargarita making an officious announcement that the Esteemed Council of Olds got into serious drinking and decided on the tag #grownupreads.

Now, what are #grownupreads, you may wonder. Here's how she defined them:

So what are grown-up reads? If I wanted to be circular [...], I would say it's literature that would tend to be read and enjoyed by adults. In more detail this often means it deals with characters who are over 30 years old, or approaching that. Sometimes it might not, but would still concern themes that resonate with adults, that are relevant to the point we are in our lives, etc. Perhaps even simply uses vocabulary more appreciated by us geriatrics.

I feel that's pretty much on point, spot on.

One Ring to Bind Them

Now, a tag is fine and great. But another issue that was discussed in the threads—not by the Esteemed Council of Olds, but by us regular Wattpad lowlives—was how to spread the word of this tag. A tag is useless as long as it's not commonly known. That left me clamoring for an official Wattpad personality to herd this community of grownupreaders, who would care for our interests, pamper us, hold our hands, bind us, and tell world and dog how to find books with grown-up content, e.g. by propagating the tag.

We invoked the mighty spirits of Wattpad and were rewarded by linahanson announcing plans for an ambassador-driven adult fiction profile!

[Update 15 March 2017 AD] And guess what has happened today? The official

adultfiction

profile has gone online! Check it out. The have confirmed the tags #adultfic, #adultfiction, and #grownupreads. And they have provided a sticker, too.

And more is yet to come!

Does this rock? Yes, it does.

And now, where does that story about the w-wolves come from?

On the threads, there was also a general palaver how to push Wattpad authors and readers to use the correct tags when marking books and searching for them. There are so many tagging possibilities to chose from, and even if you use the right tag, it's so easy to misspell it. For example, there are 21 books here tagged #harrpotter (sic!), 16 #katnis, and 6 #katnisss

And 297 #werewolve, and 43 #werewolfes, and 72 #wearwolves

At this point, things got completely out of hand...

——

A/N: grammarly truly hated this text