[REND] Author's Retrospective - Book 1

I was waiting for Book 1 to finish on RR/SH to post this. Come hang out at RR/SH to celebrate the public completion of Book 1.

After 142 days since public release and 69 chapters (nice), we reach the end of Book 1 of REND on RR and SH. It’s been quite a journey over these past months, and I’m thankful that you’re here supporting REND. Do I put [BOOK ONE COMPLETED] in the title like other stories do? Just kidding. It’s going to stay as just “REND”.

Why I wrote REND?

I’ve discussed this in the Prior Cycle, but I’m going to summarize it here for those who haven’t read it. A long time ago, when I first started reading web/light novels, I only liked male main characters. There is the reader self-insert aspect, of course. I just couldn’t connect to the female leads.

I came upon Worm by Wildbow and changed my mind. Then I branched out to other female MCs. REND took several inspirations from Worm. I also read the book and watched the movie Gone Girl, which was my first introduction to a female psychopath MC. Honestly, one of the most terrifying villains I’ve encountered because she could be a person you know. From there, I wanted to make my own female psychopath MC.

Another influence was Animorphs, a book series I read a lot as a kid. Most of you probably don’t know Animorphs. It’s about a group of kids with superpowers fighting an alien invasion. It’s marketed as a children’s story, but it’s very gory and discusses heavy things like the trauma of child soldiers. Probably got past censors because of its goofy cover. The main characters there could regenerate (it’s more complicated than that), which means that fight scenes could push to be way gorier than if they didn’t have that power. I decided that REND will have regeneration and violent fights.

Brief history of the Prior Cycle

The original REND first started on Royalroad. In its first couple of months, it only had around fifty followers. It entered Trending (at that time, there was no Rising Stars) and reached up to a thousand followers. However, many of those followers thought that Erind was a murderhobo or expected an OP MC story. The readers who had an incorrect expectation of REND left soon enough.

Then REND reached the disastrous Arc 3—the condo arc. The short of it was that Erind’s condo was attacked by the 2Ms, and many residents were turned into monsters. The arc followed separate story lines of Erind and other survivors. It was a bloated mess, is what I can say. There was even a chapter where like 20+ followers dropped the story because Erind was too evil for a short bit.

It was also at this time that I started posting at Scribblehub. Growth was very slow on SH and regressing on RR. Fortunately, Thundamoo shouted REND on RR (shouts weren’t really a thing back then) and helped it grow a bit. The shitshow that was the condo arc ended pretty well, actually. I’m proud of managing to tie up that massive mess. The number of followers started to rise on both RR and SH in Arc 4 (probably the best arc of the Prior Cycle). REND almost reached 5k followers on RR and 2.7k on SH at the end of Arc 6, where the Prior Cycle ended.

Why did I stick to writing REND?

Many authors would’ve dropped their story after a lackluster start and the barrage of complaints from readers expecting the usual webnovel tropes. But I stuck to REND because I was confident that Erind could win readers over. Psychopaths can be very charismatic in real life, and many will attract people. I bet Erind could do that with readers, too. And I was right! Erind, despite being… like that… is very likable. Many readers even became fans of her ramblings. If other main characters did her rambling thing, they probably would just come off as annoying.

I know that REND and Erind aren’t for everyone. But I also know that many people who think they won’t like REND are wrong. It’s quite hard to explain what was going on in my head a few years ago. Perhaps because I was fascinated by watching those true crime documentaries, and I know that many others were, too. I became confident that Erind would click with readers, given enough time. Many readers did get converted to liking REND.

Why did I rewrite REND?

As mentioned, REND Prior Cycle had pretty high follower counts on RR and SH before it ended. But many of those were inactive readers who had stopped reading REND because of infrequent updates and other issues. In the past couple of years, I was dealing with some things and got burnt out. It affected my writing. Some months, I’ll upload only one chapter. The writing, especially the plot, suffered a lot. I was just trudging along to continue and writing myself into a corner.

But I wasn’t going to give up REND. I remained confident that Erind is a great character (in a writing sense). And so, I decided to rewrite REND, committing to release consistent chapters. There were plenty of plot points I wanted to change in the Prior Cycle; rewriting would allow me to do so. Furthermore, I had grown as a writer over the years, and I wanted my work to reflect that.

Those who have read the Prior Cycle might be able to attest to the upgraded quality of the rewrite. I also had a better idea of the characters, so I was able to handle them well this time around.

A Different Reception

The Prior Cycle took years to find its footing and reach a high follower count. In comparison, in just a few months’ time, REND has almost 4.7k followers on RR and 750 on SH. Another huge difference is the readers. The community is way more chill and accepting than the one the Prior Cycle had in its early days. Actually, even compared to other communities in RR, for example, we are really chill.

And no, these are not the old readers. I’m not sure how to check on SH, but on RR, only around 25% of the followers came from the Prior Cycle. Isn’t it interesting that a story with a psychopath would have a fun and relaxed community with next to no toxicity?

Plans for Book 2

Book 2 will focus a lot on twisting plots and schemes. The 2Ms are going to lie low, but it doesn’t mean that there won’t be any problems. Erind will make sure that there are shenanigans. We have plenty to cover. There’s the new mask that Erind might use as her “Core power”. Tower Cop and police investigations are going to be a problem; the BID would surely take an interest as well after the docks mission. Maybe we can find Kelsey? There’s Overdrive and the gangsters. And so much more.

We’ll develop the characters we have and meet new ones. I hope to improve the quality of my writing, too. As for the schedule of our releases, I have (mostly) stuck to it—a big accomplishment compared to the situation of the Prior Cycle.

The main challenge I’m facing is time. I’m not a full-time writer and quite far from being one. If my job and other life responsibilities increase at certain moments, it might cut into writing and planning time. But I really aim to output as much quality as I can, given my circumstances. I have to thank the Patreon supporters for helping me devote time to REND instead of, you know, working more hours.

Should you read the Prior Cycle?

Many ask this question, and the answer is that it depends on you. It is not a required reading; events of the REND rewrite can stand alone without knowledge of the original version of the story. As for spoilers, many of the characters and story elements are the same between the two versions, but the plot goes in wildly different ways. There will be some spoilers, but they won’t be that impactful on the reading experience of the rewrite.

If you want something to pass your free time, you can try reading the Prior Cycle. Just note that I wrote it years back. It will be rough in places. Plus, I didn’t plan for certain parts much.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Help REND grow by giving it a rating or review on its title page. The end of Book 1 seems to be a good time for an assessment. Plus, you’ll help market REND by increasing its visibility with your rating/review. If you have ideas, suggestions, criticisms, or anything you can think of, share them in the comments below.

As for the upcoming litrpg that was supposed to be released this month, I decided to move it to next year for more preparation. Thank you again for all of your support! I'm very grateful.