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1 Author’s Note for “Dear Sakura”
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2
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3 Aside from a brief sentence or two, I’ve never done author’s notes
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4 before. I’m also still new to fan fiction, so your patience really is
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5 appreciated. Thanks seem to be in order, so we’ll start there.
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6
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7 Thank *you* for reading the story. It’s a bit long, and it’s coming
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8 out in several parts over a period of time, so Faithful Reader’s
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9 dedication is very much appreciated by the authors. We didn’t plan on
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10 it being this long, but then we didn't plan on it being any shorter,
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11 either. We just wrote, and tried to let the story tell itself. It
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12 did. We hope you like it.
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13
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14 Collaborating with Heather of Amazoness Duo is a delight. Creatively
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15 speaking, we make a very harmoniuos pair. We share a similar
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16 viewpoint on a lot things, and both got on very well in our work. She
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17 was the reason I began to do fan fiction last year. I was inspired by
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18 her work and thought, “I would love to be able to write like that.”
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19 Well, I still can’t write like she does, and don’t expect I ever
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20 will. I have experience in non-creative writing, but she has genuine
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21 talent. As she gains experience, she pushes the limits of her
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22 ability. It’s astonishing to see what she’s done in just the year
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23 I’ve known her. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to assist her in
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24 writing this series. Thank you very much, Heather. It really means
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25 more to me than I can say.
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26
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27 Finally, thank you, Clamp. Card Captor Sakura is a luminous series,
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28 filled with magic and passion, humor and adventure, and tinged with
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29 the sadness of ephemeral beauty that is so distinctly Japanese. Their
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30 work is a beautiful creation, a rare gift for readers lucky enough to
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31 discover it. The characters are vivid and alive, so real they attract
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32 our thoughts, stir our feelings, and fill our dreams. Fan fiction
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33 covers a lot of imaginative ground, but we wanted the characters to
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34 be true to Clamp's original vision. Thre story takes place six years
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35 after the end of the manga, and about 3 months after Sakura has
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36 married Syaoran and moved to Hong Kong. It begins when Tomoyo writes
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37 a letter to her friend, who is settling into a new life in a far away
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38 place.
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39
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40 G.P.
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41
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42
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43 Hello, minna-san! ^-^ The story you are about to begin reading has
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44 taken something around half a year to write, countless e-mails sent
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45 back and forth to develop, and many a sleepless night. And it's
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46 longer and much more satisfying than a story that took me two years
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47 to write on my own. I've had a lot of fun being a part of this and I
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48 hope you'll have as much fun reading it. ^-^ I've always found
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49 collaborations with other authors exciting. But there are so many
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50 problems with it. If one of you loses interest, the entire series can
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51 collapse. If you have a conflict of interest, then the story can
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52 suffer. If you're writing styles are too dissimilar, then the whole
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53 thing looks painfully welded together. But none of that happened with
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54 this. I got to cowrite a story with my favorite CCS fanfic author and
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55 it went unbelievably smoothly. Through our e-mails, we managed to
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56 work out the direction of the story and more than that, we managed to
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57 delve deeper into the characters and the situations they found
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58 themselves in, getting a deeper look at Clamp's masterpiece as we
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59 went along. G.P. and I both view writing as more watchful than
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60 forceful, so I believe our styles went hand in hand. This was the
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61 most enjoyable time I've had writing since I started years ago. I'm
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62 extremely happy with how things have turned out. I never could have
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63 done this story on my own. The sheer scope alone would have been
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64 daunting, but G.P. always kept me inspired and eager to continue
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65 forward towards the stories inevitable conclusion. I didn't want it
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66 to be over, but all good things must come to an end. Even if no one
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67 reads this at all, I was simply delighted to have worked on it. G.P.
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68 is a magnificent writer and I hope that we can collaborate on another
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69 story in the not so distant future. This story was very emotional for
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70 me and even I had no real idea where it was going at times. I found
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71 myself crying while writing parts of it, lost in the swirling
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72 emotions surrounding our lead characters. This is Tomoyo's story.
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73 This is Sakura's story. I never wanted to impose my will upon it. I
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74 simply wanted to document it. I hope that we've done them proud. The
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75 turning points in the story, and even the ending were surprises for
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76 me. The characters wanted to go their own way and I was more than
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77 happy to see where they would lead. I hope they'll surprise you as
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78 much as they surprised me.
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79
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80 Heather of the Amazoness Duo |
