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Joan He 🐹

@joanhewrites

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𝙽𝚈𝚃 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛
🪶DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE
🌊THE ONES WE’RE MEANT TO FIND
🦚 STRIKE THE ZITHER, SOUND THE GONG

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Now that SOUND THE GONG is out in the world, a reminder that there’s an *annotated* bonus epilogue that’s all sweet, no bitter, on my website if you need a HEA for two birds of a feather

joanhewrites.com/stgbonus

Password: crow’s last 4 words to zephyr, no capitals, spaces, or punctuation

Enjoy 🍬

#strikethezither #romanceofthethreekingdoms#soundthegong #三国演义#yafantasy #cdrama #xianxia #bookstagram #enemiestolovers #rivals #zhugeliang #liubei #chinesefantasy #chinesehistory #booktok by @joanhewrites

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2 years ago

SOUND THE GONG is out today, concluding my reimagining of the epic and brutal war classic that is 三国演义, and I cannot think of a story that I would have wanted to tell across 700pgs more.

STRIKE THE ZITHER is not complete without SOUND THE GONG. This is evident from the chapter numbers: STZ covers ch 1-24, STG covers 25-49. It’s evident in the characters: no new named characters are introduced in STG, same as how you usually don’t see new named characters introduced after the 50% mark of a standalone.

Themes also continue: if STZ is a book about zephyr finding out that she contains multitudes, then STG is where she finds out the people around her contain multitudes, too. If STZ has its eyes set on the horizon (free the empress), then STG is about what happens when you finally arrive at said horizon. Are the sacrifices made worth it when a destination can only ever be a summit, a moment, a burst of light at sunset?

And yet, while STG is a direct continuation of zephyr’s story, it only exists in its truest form because of the interrupted years when I COULDN’T write it, years when I went on some emotional rollercoasters of my own, wondering when, if ever, Zephyr’s full story would get a chance to be told.

Sometimes a door doesn’t close for another one to open. Sometimes, a door is closed because the garden behind it still needs time to grow. Now, the door opens, and I welcome you in. Zephyr is a character close to my soul, and while this is the proverbial end of her journey, I hope she lives on in your heart and mind like she has mine, demanding since 2017 for the ending that she may not have foreseen, but that she deserves in every sense of the word.

Thank you to my team, my friends and fam, and to you the reader for making this ending possible 💕

#strikethezither #soundthegong #romanceofthethreekingdoms #三国演义#yafantasy #cdrama #xianxia #bookstagram #enemiestolovers #rivals #zhugeliang #liubei #chinesefantasy #chinesehistory #booktok by @joanhewrites

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2 years ago

Less than 2 months to go 😱 don’t be fooled by Crow on the cover—this is still very much Zephyr’s book as she makes Crow’s life living hell 😌

SOUND THE GONG is the sequel and conclusion to STRIKE THE ZITHER, a genderbent reimagining of the Chinese classic 3kingdoms in which a strategist must defeat her greatest rival and the enemy kingdoms to win the war for her lordess #strikethezither #soundthegong #romanceofthethreekingdoms #三国演义#yafantasy #cdrama #xianxia #bookstagram #enemiestolovers #rivals #zhugeliang #liubei #chinesefantasy #chinesehistory by @joanhewrites

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3 years ago

The last few years in which I struggled on and on and on with my historical draft and posted pretty much nothing except for the occasional STZ/STG promo and progress updates to my stories really redefined my relationship with socials. There was a time, a very valid season of my life, when I deeply believed it was not enough just to write the book but also to do everything in my power to move the needle (albeit that 1 degree) to “help” the book. After all, we write in the end to be read, so it certainly behooves an author that their book find its readers. But lately, looking ahead, I’ve felt an internal shift. The landscape has become so much more 卷（iykyk) and I’m still trying to figure out how to best protect my writing brain moving forward while still showing up for my stories. At the same time, looking back, I realize I’ve never done socials “correctly”. For one, I’ve known for a fact since 2020 or the takeoff of the short vid that it would help to show my face more in whatever I post and that to eschew doing so is rather deoptimizing of content making time. And yet a part of me clings onto the dream, or maybe delusion, that it’s possible to be an author without being an influencer. In these last few weeks of being 29, I’m more grateful than ever for the boundaries younger me drew for no real reason other than protecting that feeling of what felt true to me. by @joanhewrites

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14 days ago

The Bookish Shop is thrilled to host author Heather Kassner @heather1ee for her new release, Spellwright ✨💛 Joan He @joanhewrites will be joining her in conversation and will also be signing... so bring your books! 📚

DETAILS:
🗓️Thursday, October 29th
⏰From 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. (Convo begins at 6:30!)
📍The Bookish Shop (60 W VAUGHN AVE #107, GILBERT, AZ 85233)
🎟️Tickets are $25 per person, includes a copy of Spellwright

Tickets are on sale TODAY! We hope we’ll see you there ✨ by @joanhewrites

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21 days ago

Sitting at a coffeeshop today to enjoy my post draft freedom (aka work on overdue emails & ideate some) and as I opened my journal for said ideation, I found this entry written in the depths of my despair earlier this year, when the draft 1 seemed like it was never getting done. I rarely diary and I only do it when the angst is at a peak, which clearly it was. But it’s always interesting to read back, once on the other side, and realize things never feel as bad as they do in the moment. Anyway enjoy the thoughts on resiliency if you can read the handwriting 🥲 by @joanhewrites

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3 months ago

3 years and it almost k*lled me but I finally sent in a draft today that I’m proud of 😭 will do a live tomorrow (7/7) @ 3pm est tune in with any burning questions and to see the full post draft gremlin 😵

Oh and happy 10th ever completed MS to me 🤯

#chinesehistorical by @joanhewrites

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3 months ago

Felt something writing this 🥲 how could you not for a boy with daddy angst

(I’ve become much more cagey with sharing snippets on the grid because don’t want to jinx things/have hyper awareness of all that still remains between a draft and anything that will see the light of day but sometimes I remember what it’s like to believe in myself and the work even before anyone has stamped it so here’s some documentation of that 😂🙏) by @joanhewrites

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5 months ago

Confession: I do take pride in the upward trend of the avg ratings across this duology because if they are to be believed, the books only get happier and happier 🤗

I’ve also made peace with the fact that I will never surpass 4.64 and that’s ok—Plot and Art and idk all those bitter tasting things that don’t go down the gullet smoothly are worth it 🥲

Inspired by the FAQ: does the duology have a HEA? Canonically, no, bittersweet for the ship. But dw I wrote fanfic in lieu of paying for your therapy 🫡 #strikethezither #soundthegong by @joanhewrites

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6 months ago

Just two coworkers from this solitary job they call authoring ❤️ by @joanhewrites

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7 months ago

Happy year of the horse from your biggest horse girl, zephyr 🫡 there’s a bracket on who’s the better rider happening in my stories but abbreviated poll below! by @joanhewrites

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8 months ago

I don’t need much—places, things, experiences, eg, I am that weirdo who can eat the same meal every day. Because it’s when the rest of my life fades to the background that I can do some of my best thinking. When the rest of my life is even keeled, only then can my mind really be free.

2025 was a year of a lot of change, and no doubt there will be more this year, but I feel more ready than ever to protect my peace and romanticize the days where my biggest struggle is between myself and the words. Happy 2026 all and wishing for your hopes to come true too ❤️ by @joanhewrites

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9 months ago