#hendo rambles

[aohendo]

Writblr Intro (Round 2)

Hey, everyone! Figured it was time to update my intro.

Call me Hendo, she/her, early twenties. I write fantasy, science-fiction, and sometimes horror, all with an emphasis on characterization over plot. In my longer manuscripts, there are always dragons, a casually queer cast, and at least one explosion.

I'm happy to do beta swaps under 15k, or honestly even longer depending on what my work schedule is that week. Said work schedule varies between "I'm basically on paid vacation for the next month" to "oh shit oh shit oh shit" without much warning, so, uh, yeah.

Tag and ask games are always welcome. If you ever just want to pop by and chat, maybe to say hi, maybe to work out a sticky plot thread, maybe to talk characters or editing, I'm here for it!

My WIPs

Let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist for anything.

Reverberate | new-adult | complete, 124k | researching agents

A young special ops soldier sets out to find and kill the shareholders who murdered her family, but revenge becomes complicated when she discovers her brother imprisoned in a facility universally infamous for its mental reprogramming.

found-family/family as a choice, introspective narration, stoicism, revenge, space roombas

WIP intro | tag: attenuate/reverberate

Prince for Hire | new-adult | draft 3, 110k | doing a paper edit

A prophetic con-artist is tricked into becoming a prince and entering a conquering empress' Competition to rule the region.

rags-to-riches, learning to forgive, first steps of romance/learning to trust, magic causes more problems than it solves

WIP intro | Comic Sans intro | tag: princeforhire, pfh editing, pfh d2, pfh d3

Tyrant for Sale (working title) | new-adult | drafting, projected 100k

An assassin, a prophet, and a golden-boy prince, and their attempts to overthrow the assassin's father's tyrannical empire

Dunno what it'll feature yet but there does seem to be a wyvern, massive trust issues, and an old prophet's cave?

No WIP intro yet | tag: princeforhire2

[aohendo]

hiii!! it's been a while! hope you're doing well :)

idk how new it is but i like the prince for hire banner!! i gasped so loud when i saw it (AND THE BOOTS ON IT) on your recent prince for hire deleted scenes post lol

@shrunkupthejams!! Life is good :) Hope it is for you, too!

And yes!! Banners!!!! @daisywords made them for me a bit ago, and they're fantastic. She nailed the colors and images and font and yeah. Any opportunity to use? 10/10 taking it.

[aohendo]

Prince for Hire Editing Update

Removed the first two chapters. It now begins with Kiris in the bathtub, and is gonna be a bit of a firehouse of context and the like until I can weed it out a little more.

Removed chapters 9-14 for rewriting. They originally focused on the Competition of the Turre, and I need them to focus on Kiris' attempts to save Prince Thaav, Iiriok's investigation into Kiris, and the Turre provoking the princes into infighting.

Replotted the end to establish a clear, single-book bad guy, since although the Turre are the BBEG, they're really just setting for this book, and will be the primary bad guy in, oh, say, book three (Iiriok's).

Depending how much I can salvage from those deleted chapters, expect deleted scenes coming soon!

[aohendo]

Prince for Hire editing update:

Still in the wild woes of draft three. This draft is now affectionately known as the exposition draft!

First half changes: vastly increasing the prominence of Kiris' mentor figure, and restructuring Kiris' first motives to seem to stem from them. Also, increasing Iiriok's suspicion of Kiris, and thereby increasing Kiris' action-desperation as well as overall plot tension levels. Clarify and explain worldbuiding. Add a little more on Evina. Clarify who knows what about Kiris' magic (and oddities within that magic).

Second half changes: Kiris' self-hatred (sorry, buddy) needs to be emphasized to the point that it's clear why he'd rather just abandon himself and carry on as his fake prince identity. Rework several newly introduced inconsistencies stemming from increasing mentor prominence in the first half. Add 2 missing Iiriok/Kiris scenes. Increase Evina's presence overall to frame her as the predominant antagonist of this novel.

[aohendo]

Scribbled out the major subplots of Prince real quick. Surprisingly efficient way to figure out what I was forgetting to foreshadow, whose motivations I completely forgot to clarify, and why the second to last scene just wasn’t coming off right.

Would recommend, if you’re stuck in an editing stage.

[image id: a printer sheet of paper with scribbly handwriting in 5 columns, with sideways text between the columns /end id]

[aohendo]

Name one food you are craving right now. And a book/movie you would like to enjoy while eating it.

Pizza Hut breadsticks. Nice and hot and fresh as they ever get, slightly oily. Double order, preferably.

For movie: I’d watch the Martian again in a heartbeat, else, I’ll take Down Periscope. Seen that thing too many times but the whale scene never fails to make me laugh.

If tv show, Doctor Who. Preferably the season with 12 and Bill.

(Instead, the tv is currently receiving reruns of Friends, and I have a clementine of unknown age…)

[aohendo]

Okay so I could very well end Prince for Hire on this last chapter I just finished. Which would. Be. I--

The problem is that 1. the entire point of the plot was to get Kiris a hug, and there is a noticeable absence of hugs; 2. there’s still a handful of subplots left to tie off; 3. this was supposed to be happy. HAPPY.; 4. I’ve still got four chapters worth of stuff I was looking forward to; 5. ??????

I think the problem is that I hit the emotional catharsis (Kiris standing up for something he feels strongly about finally) about two chapters earlier than I was planning.

[aohendo]

2022 Writer Year in Review

Tagged by @oh-no-another-idea and @eccaiia! Thanks, guys, and happy new year! I hope you both succeed (and maybe even surpass!) your goals.

Tagging @whimsyqueen, @kyofsonder, @houndsofcorduff, @cactusmotif, @helathorloki, and @athena-anna-rose!

Total number of completed works: 6! (2 long, 4 short)

Total number of WIPs worked on this year: 6!

WIPs neglected this year: 0

Fandoms I've written in: 0 (this past year--previously Lucifer, Pokemon, NCIS, Halo, The Untamed, AtLA, Doctor Who, and Merlin)

Total word count: 353,550 (... holy shit.)

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you expected?:

way more. waaaaay more. That said, I met both goals I had set for myself.

Did you take any writing risks this year?

even writing this year. Lots of major life changes and general chaos. In terms of controllable risks, I submitted to magazines for the first time, and got my first round of form rejections! Breaking that ice :)

Do you have any goals for the new year?

Edit Prince for Hire to a legible and enjoyable point, do another round of editing on Reverberate to condense it down a bit (or split it into two--haven't decided yet), start querying agents, keep submitting to magazines and whatnot.

Biggest disappointment?

I've gotta rewrite the last chapter before the epilogue of Prince for Hire completely, and also completely rearrange the final three. I was hoping to not have to do that this time.

Biggest surprise?

I actually finished Prince before the new year!

Most popular story of the year?

Prince for Hire, definitely.

What's your own favourite story of the year?

Prince, again 😅

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Reverberate, I suppose, but also it's not one I've at all talked much about this past year...

Most fun story to write:

Prince wrote waaaaay easier than Reverberate, although some of the scenes in Reverberate remain my favorite (mostly thinking about the space RV in the finale ramp-up). And I love writing Cal from Reverberate, so...

Most unintentionally telling story:

not quite the prompt, but most unexpected thing to come from the stories this year: despite being entirely and completely different from one another, Reverberate and Prince unintentionally share their root theme.

My favourite part of fandom writblr this year:

hopping into the community and meeting everyone! I've read some really fantastic pieces from you all, and it's been a treat learning about your characters and worlds.

A clean version for copy-pasting:

Total number of completed works:

Total number of WIPs worked on this year:

WIPs neglected this year:

Fandoms I've written in:

Total word count:

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you expected?

Did you take any writing risks this year?

Do you have any goals for the new year?

Biggest disappointment?

Biggest surprise?

Most popular story of the year?

What's your own favourite story of the year?

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Most fun story to write:

Most unintentionally telling story:

My favourite part of fandom this year: