Author’s Note for “Dear Sakura”

Aside from a brief sentence or two, I’ve never done author’s notes
before. I’m also still new to fan fiction, so your patience really is
appreciated. Thanks seem to be in order, so we’ll start there.

Thank *you* for reading the story. It’s a bit long, and it’s coming
out in several parts over a period of time, so Faithful Reader’s
dedication is very much appreciated by the authors. We didn’t plan on
it being this long, but then we didn't plan on it being any shorter,
either. We just wrote, and tried to let the story tell itself. It
did. We hope you like it.

Collaborating with Heather of Amazoness Duo is a delight. Creatively
speaking, we make a very harmoniuos pair. We share a similar
viewpoint on a lot things, and both got on very well in our work. She
was the reason I began to do fan fiction last year. I was inspired by
her work and thought, “I would love to be able to write like that.”
Well, I still can’t write like she does, and don’t expect I ever
will. I have experience in non-creative writing, but she has genuine
talent. As she gains experience, she pushes the limits of her
ability. It’s astonishing to see what she’s done in just the year
I’ve known her. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to assist her in
writing this series. Thank you very much, Heather. It really means
more to me than I can say.

Finally, thank you, Clamp. Card Captor Sakura is a luminous series,
filled with magic and passion, humor and adventure, and tinged with
the sadness of ephemeral beauty that is so distinctly Japanese. Their
work is a beautiful creation, a rare gift for readers lucky enough to
discover it. The characters are vivid and alive, so real they attract
our thoughts, stir our feelings, and fill our dreams. Fan fiction
covers a lot of imaginative ground, but we wanted the characters to
be true to Clamp's original vision. Thre story takes place six years
after the end of the manga, and about 3 months after Sakura has
married Syaoran and moved to Hong Kong. It begins when Tomoyo writes
a letter to her friend, who is settling into a new life in a far away
place.

G.P.


Hello, minna-san! ^-^ The story you are about to begin reading has
taken something around half a year to write, countless e-mails sent
back and forth to develop, and many a sleepless night. And it's
longer and much more satisfying than a story that took me two years
to write on my own. I've had a lot of fun being a part of this and I
hope you'll have as much fun reading it. ^-^ I've always found
collaborations with other authors exciting. But there are so many
problems with it. If one of you loses interest, the entire series can
collapse. If you have a conflict of interest, then the story can
suffer. If you're writing styles are too dissimilar, then the whole
thing looks painfully welded together. But none of that happened with
this. I got to cowrite a story with my favorite CCS fanfic author and
it went unbelievably smoothly. Through our e-mails, we managed to
work out the direction of the story and more than that, we managed to
delve deeper into the characters and the situations they found
themselves in, getting a deeper look at Clamp's masterpiece as we
went along. G.P. and I both view writing as more watchful than
forceful, so I believe our styles went hand in hand. This was the
most enjoyable time I've had writing since I started years ago. I'm
extremely happy with how things have turned out. I never could have
done this story on my own. The sheer scope alone would have been
daunting, but G.P. always kept me inspired and eager to continue
forward towards the stories inevitable conclusion. I didn't want it
to be over, but all good things must come to an end. Even if no one
reads this at all, I was simply delighted to have worked on it. G.P.
is a magnificent writer and I hope that we can collaborate on another
story in the not so distant future. This story was very emotional for
me and even I had no real idea where it was going at times. I found
myself crying while writing parts of it, lost in the swirling
emotions surrounding our lead characters. This is Tomoyo's story.
This is Sakura's story. I never wanted to impose my will upon it. I
simply wanted to document it. I hope that we've done them proud. The
turning points in the story, and even the ending were surprises for
me. The characters wanted to go their own way and I was more than
happy to see where they would lead. I hope they'll surprise you as
much as they surprised me. 

Heather of the Amazoness Duo