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     1.4 +Author’s Note for “Dear Sakura”
     1.5 +
     1.6 +Aside from a brief sentence or two, I’ve never done author’s notes
     1.7 +before. I’m also still new to fan fiction, so your patience really is
     1.8 +appreciated. Thanks seem to be in order, so we’ll start there.
     1.9 +
    1.10 +Thank *you* for reading the story. It’s a bit long, and it’s coming
    1.11 +out in several parts over a period of time, so Faithful Reader’s
    1.12 +dedication is very much appreciated by the authors. We didn’t plan on
    1.13 +it being this long, but then we didn't plan on it being any shorter,
    1.14 +either. We just wrote, and tried to let the story tell itself. It
    1.15 +did. We hope you like it.
    1.16 +
    1.17 +Collaborating with Heather of Amazoness Duo is a delight. Creatively
    1.18 +speaking, we make a very harmoniuos pair. We share a similar
    1.19 +viewpoint on a lot things, and both got on very well in our work. She
    1.20 +was the reason I began to do fan fiction last year. I was inspired by
    1.21 +her work and thought, “I would love to be able to write like that.”
    1.22 +Well, I still can’t write like she does, and don’t expect I ever
    1.23 +will. I have experience in non-creative writing, but she has genuine
    1.24 +talent. As she gains experience, she pushes the limits of her
    1.25 +ability. It’s astonishing to see what she’s done in just the year
    1.26 +I’ve known her. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to assist her in
    1.27 +writing this series. Thank you very much, Heather. It really means
    1.28 +more to me than I can say.
    1.29 +
    1.30 +Finally, thank you, Clamp. Card Captor Sakura is a luminous series,
    1.31 +filled with magic and passion, humor and adventure, and tinged with
    1.32 +the sadness of ephemeral beauty that is so distinctly Japanese. Their
    1.33 +work is a beautiful creation, a rare gift for readers lucky enough to
    1.34 +discover it. The characters are vivid and alive, so real they attract
    1.35 +our thoughts, stir our feelings, and fill our dreams. Fan fiction
    1.36 +covers a lot of imaginative ground, but we wanted the characters to
    1.37 +be true to Clamp's original vision. Thre story takes place six years
    1.38 +after the end of the manga, and about 3 months after Sakura has
    1.39 +married Syaoran and moved to Hong Kong. It begins when Tomoyo writes
    1.40 +a letter to her friend, who is settling into a new life in a far away
    1.41 +place.
    1.42 +
    1.43 +G.P.
    1.44 +
    1.45 +
    1.46 +Hello, minna-san! ^-^ The story you are about to begin reading has
    1.47 +taken something around half a year to write, countless e-mails sent
    1.48 +back and forth to develop, and many a sleepless night. And it's
    1.49 +longer and much more satisfying than a story that took me two years
    1.50 +to write on my own. I've had a lot of fun being a part of this and I
    1.51 +hope you'll have as much fun reading it. ^-^ I've always found
    1.52 +collaborations with other authors exciting. But there are so many
    1.53 +problems with it. If one of you loses interest, the entire series can
    1.54 +collapse. If you have a conflict of interest, then the story can
    1.55 +suffer. If you're writing styles are too dissimilar, then the whole
    1.56 +thing looks painfully welded together. But none of that happened with
    1.57 +this. I got to cowrite a story with my favorite CCS fanfic author and
    1.58 +it went unbelievably smoothly. Through our e-mails, we managed to
    1.59 +work out the direction of the story and more than that, we managed to
    1.60 +delve deeper into the characters and the situations they found
    1.61 +themselves in, getting a deeper look at Clamp's masterpiece as we
    1.62 +went along. G.P. and I both view writing as more watchful than
    1.63 +forceful, so I believe our styles went hand in hand. This was the
    1.64 +most enjoyable time I've had writing since I started years ago. I'm
    1.65 +extremely happy with how things have turned out. I never could have
    1.66 +done this story on my own. The sheer scope alone would have been
    1.67 +daunting, but G.P. always kept me inspired and eager to continue
    1.68 +forward towards the stories inevitable conclusion. I didn't want it
    1.69 +to be over, but all good things must come to an end. Even if no one
    1.70 +reads this at all, I was simply delighted to have worked on it. G.P.
    1.71 +is a magnificent writer and I hope that we can collaborate on another
    1.72 +story in the not so distant future. This story was very emotional for
    1.73 +me and even I had no real idea where it was going at times. I found
    1.74 +myself crying while writing parts of it, lost in the swirling
    1.75 +emotions surrounding our lead characters. This is Tomoyo's story.
    1.76 +This is Sakura's story. I never wanted to impose my will upon it. I
    1.77 +simply wanted to document it. I hope that we've done them proud. The
    1.78 +turning points in the story, and even the ending were surprises for
    1.79 +me. The characters wanted to go their own way and I was more than
    1.80 +happy to see where they would lead. I hope they'll surprise you as
    1.81 +much as they surprised me. 
    1.82 +
    1.83 +Heather of the Amazoness Duo
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