And thus, we (abruptly) end REND and prepare for its universe to restart. I figured that since SpookyErind has the power to travel dimensions, and she has hinted there were other Erinds, why not make the rewrite as the next Erind that SpookyErind will latch onto?

  Before discussing things further, I want to make clear that the rewrite will be more than 90% different from the original, as even similar scenes are heavily edited. The plot is substantially different, even if the overarching direction is the same. Erind, Deen, and the most of the other characters are the same.

  As for Arc 6 ending, I rushed to reveal the bigger plot about Pando to hear your thoughts on it. Most likely, it’ll be changed or tweaked in the rewrite. There were many things that we forgot, like the Supplier and the Professor. Let's see what we'll do with them in the rewrite.

  I can’t believe it’s been almost five years since I started writing REND on Royal Road on May 20, 2020. Even more surprising that I’m still around writing it, or that I kept going in the first place. I’ve talked about in past Retrospectives how REND struggled to find an audience. It only had around fifty followers on RR for its first month and a half. Look at it now, with 4.8k+ followers. On Scribblehub, it took until the end of Arc 3 to balloon in growth. Unfortunately, over the years, I wasn’t able to take care and cultivate our niche community. A lot of real-life issues pulled me from writing, with some months having only one or even zero chapters. But I don’t want this Retrospective to be a downer, so I won’t discuss more of that.

  What’s important is I’m still here. And you’re here too. I couldn’t have kept going without your support, and I thank you very much for it. Now is the time to try again for REND and me as a writer.

  Rewriting REND

  Why do I want to rewrite REND? Three reasons: 1) I want to improve it; 2) I want to finish it; and 3) I want to spread REND to a mainstream audience, especially Erind’s character.

  Improving REND

  There are many things to improve in REND, and I can probably write a book if I list them all down. Better ideas, like making Erind shorter. Erm, I mean, like reworking Pino and Domino. We can develop the faces and benefit from the interesting scenes that could happen compared to Erind spamming Blanchette. I also want to remove scenes that didn’t work out, like how the first meeting with Myra went, or ideas that poke holes in the plot, like the Suppressor. I’m going to remove the sunrise in the wrong direction because it caused so many issues before with readers thinking I made a mistake.

  I also want to improve the writing itself. It might not matter to some readers, and they’ll say we can focus on the present chapters. That works too, as many long-running web novels start with shaky writing and eventually improve but don’t rewrite. However, there’s a personal aspect to this. I want to read REND someday. (Probably counts as rereading.) I know that I’ve learned and improved on many things as a writer. I also know that I wasn’t able to put in the time planning REND and polishing its prose. I know I can do better, and so I will.

  Besides pacing, prose, plotting, and the like, there are core aspects that I want to change. Firstly, Erind has no overarching goal. Or rather, it took her a long time to decide on what to do. That leads to Erind being a very passive main character. Many of you have pointed out that Erind only moves if things happen.

  Another problem with REND is how Rule #4 is used as a plot device, as highlighted to me by a reader. This is also the cause of Erind’s passivity. How Erind uses Rule #4 will change in the rewrite. I’ll discuss more changes in another section later.

  Finishing REND

  Most web novel writers are pantsers—we don’t have an outline. We write on the seats of our pants. This isn’t usually a problem because most web novels are linear and progression-based. Get stronger, meet the next challenge, overcome it, get stronger again, and so on. But if there are several plot lines and lots of mysteries, this writing style won’t work in the long term.

  I have general plans for REND, of course, but I only partly followed them because I winged things. Since I didn’t have much free time to brainstorm/plan for REND, I just wrote and wrote until an idea popped up. The result is a mess of plot threads that make it harder and harder for me to continue the story.

  There is an aspect of “realness” in REND because I didn’t plan for certain plot points until it was about to happen. For example, Erind meeting Vanessa was a spontaneous idea. Arc 2 was supposed to end with the BID nuking Eve’s underground arena, but the continuation turned out great in the end. It wasn’t like that often. Many times, I’ve started plotlines that led to nowhere, like the police investigation part. There are also good ideas that come to me quite late into the story, and I haven’t set them up enough to use them.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Think of stacking blocks. I didn’t stack them properly, so the higher I go, the more precarious the tower becomes. Eventually, it’ll reach a tipping point and come crashing down. As applied to REND, we’re on a very shaky foundation story-wise, and I feel it’s so much better to start over and stack the blocks properly.

  With a better foundation, we’ll restart REND, stack the blocks properly, and finish what we’re building.

  Spreading REND to a mainstream audience

  REND is a niche story on Royal Road and even Scribblehub. It doesn’t fit with other psychopath stories or superhero stories. It’s also not really a villainous story, either, but that’s probably the closest classification. It’s very hard to describe REND in terms of other stories. Maybe REND is a category unto itself? That makes it hard to find an audience, as shown by its difficult start. Even a couple of years later, it still had very slow growth. But the fact that it reached 4.8k followers at present despite my abysmal upload schedule means that there’s something here.

  Perhaps Erind started the ‘endearing psychopath’ trope, similar to the lovable asshole. I’m just making stuff up. But seriously, though, I haven’t seen any other story where the main character’s random ramblings is one of the highlights. And Erind is endearing despite the repulsive things she has done.

  Wouldn’t it be fun if more people found Erind endearing, too? That’s an aspect of a psychopath, isn’t it? People find them charming. It’s like a whole meta thing if Erind, a psychopathic character, has lots of fans. Given that REND worked (to some extent) in the web novel sphere, despite not being meta, means that it’ll probably work outside of Royal Road and Scribblehub.

  Also, many readers have said they wish to own a physical copy of REND. If we do get a REND book someday, I want it to be a good one so you can recommend it to your friends with no misgivings. And why stop at just printing to order a book? Let’s get REND on a bookstore shelf.

  Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. Hey, it’s free to dream. Back on the topic, I truly believe that Erind can become an iconic character if I get REND right. And that’s why we’re starting anew.

  What to expect in the rewrite?

  The rewrite is not only for cosmetic purposes, improving the writing here and there, and fixing some minor scenes. More than that, it’s going to have huge changes. Think of it like the different Spiderman or Batman origin movies. They kept the general gist of the story while having their own takes on it. For example, the whole Eve and underground arena thing will happen, but in a different way. How Erind gained her powers would also be different, with some familiar scenes mixed in. How Book 1 is currently proceeding on Patreon is vastly different to Arc 1 of the original. This isn't just a rewrite to touch up grammar.

  We will also have faster pacing because I’ll cut out a lot of unnecessary things, especially the fights of random fodder that take too long. We’ll keep Erind’s ramblings, of course. But it’s not all just hastening the story. We’ll also slow down in parts to develop characters more. Arc 1 was rushed to have Erind transform into a werewolf to please the OP MC crowd, neglecting the development of Dario’s group and Deen.

  I also aim to improve our release rate, targeting to write three chapters per week. That’s a vast improvement from the few chapters a month I used to do.

  Of course, it’ll be very hard for me to accomplish. I ask for patience and understanding while I adjust and train myself to write a lot. I do hope to someday become a full-time writer and write a few thousand words a day like those big web novel authors. Consistent updates, better pacing, and reduced bloat will quickly progress REND. If we’re financially successful in the rewrite, not only will I have more time to write, but I can hire an editor as well. I aim to finish REND within three years at the most. By finish, I mean it will have a satisfying ending with the story threads neatly tied up.

  Maybe 10 books? 12? Hey, we aim high.

  Rewrite launch

  This story will be labeled REND (Old Version). I wanted to name it something cool like Prior Cycle, but that’ll just be confusing those who don’t know what happened with the rewrite.

  I will publish the REND rewrite (just called REND) on May 20, 2025, exactly five years after the first chapter of this original REND was published. I will upload daily for a couple of weeks or so, and then we’ll settle on a three-chapter per week schedule—this is the current schedule on Patreon.

  To help drum up hype for the rewrite, I’d appreciate it if you review/rate this version of REND. I’d also like to hear your thoughts after our long journey. I’d also be very thankful if you share REND with those who you think will like it once it's released.

  To help with marketing, I have my new story, Sealed in Steel, to bring in some numbers, too. I’d appreciate it if you try it as well. Among the reasons I started writing SIS was to push the REND rewrite up when the time came and to have another story to work on so I wouldn’t burn out on REND.

  In short, I’m taking the rewrite very seriously. Not just the writing part, but also its marketing. We’ll do this right and continue until the finish line.

  Patreon

  Patreon currently has twelve advanced chapters for its higher tier. After we’ve stabilized our schedule for the rewrite, I’ll work to increase the advanced chapters. I’ll be very grateful for the financial support. Most authors don’t talk about money, but it’ll be the deciding factor if I can transition to a full-time writer.

  As for ExD, I’ll write a few chapters in my free time to keep it going. I know that many want it to continue. ExD will mirror the old REND in its timeline.

  I’ll also aim to fix up Discord. Those are it for now. Thank you once again. See you in the next dimension that SpookyErind visits.