Moonlight Legend - Author's Notes
INTRODUCTION
There are a lot of notes I wanted to leave about this story, but I felt it would be inappropriate to include them in the chapters; it's not like the notes are necessary in order to read the story (the fact that people are reading it at all brings me satisfaction enough) and never should be in a good story. But if you, the reader, want to know a little more about the setting of the story, the stylistic liberties I took with the series, and why Minako is an alcoholic, this is for you.
Feel free to ask me questions in the comment section of this entry, I'll be sure to answer them to the best of my ability. If you have any suggestions, any at all, I'd love to hear those, too.
IN THE BEGINNING...
Moonlight Legend began from a prompt given by sm_monthly, a really great SM fic writing community that has boosted my creativity when I have the time for it. It wasn't just the prompt that has inspired this story, it's that entire community. My rendition of the characters has been heavily influenced by them, for which I thank them for as I feel the characters are much more lively now-- especially the Shitennou.
Which is where the stylistic liberties come in; this fic is a cross between the comic and live action. It's my fault not being able to keep the two separated, but there's several elements from both versions that I simply can't part with. You'll see this more in the Shitennou than the girls.
Another things I tend to forget is that the girls are fourteen and shouldn't be at a bar guzzling martinis, but it seemed like the villain-esque type of thing to do. Plus, after writing about Queen Serenity being an alcoholic, I couldn't move past from the idea of all of them enjoying their liquor.
OTHER DETAILS
The girls are named after precious stones Naoko Takuechi designated as their "image stones" in the Materials Collection. I debated over using them for a long time because, like others have pointed out, "Emerald" and "Sapphire" are much too similar to Esmeraude and Saphir of the Black Moon Clan. However, I feel that the "image stone" motif mirrors the situation of the Shitennou and decided that those names were the most appropriate.
Another thing I did was slightly skewer some of the facts. Zoisite is actually the youngest of the Shitennou and was originally intended to be treated as a "younger brother" type. I have instead attributed this to Jadeite, which was prevalent in his character in the live action version. What's fanon is his fanaticism and bumbling with Rei. It's true that we see in the comic that he holds a certain obsession for her, but he's much more composed in the comic than in my story-- or maybe that's due to the mind control. :p
By the way, I'm following the comic ages as given in the actual series and listed in the Materials collection (though slightly fudged). Jeddy is 16, Zoi is 17, Nephy is 18, Kunzite 19, Mamoru 16-17, and the girls 14. Though I may just ignore the whole age thing as a 19 year old Kunzite boogying with a 14 year old Minako is creepy.
I feel Nephrite also has a merge of versions as I made him slightly more temperamental like Nephy-kun, yet kept his cooler composure as exampled in the cartoon (he wasn't featured in the comic much, so...). Minako also has a bit of her cartoon self, though I feel she was also a bit of a nut case in the comic.
THE VISUALS
The girls' and Shitennou's uniforms aren't exactly what we've seen before (I'd love to post some fanart some time). I modeled the girls' uniforms off of the Shitennou's grey uniforms, and the Shitennou currently wear their white dress uniform as I feel it symbolizes their cleansing (you can find an image of Kunzite in a white rendition of their uniform in the Materials Collection).
I haven't decided if Mamoru will continue wearing his Tuxedo Mask getup or if he'll wear his princely attire like he did in the live action. I'm inclined to the later as it would look ridiculous to see a tuxedo wearing boy with a top hat paired up with four guys in military garb.
CLOSING
You can find the chapters in this live journal or on Fanfiction.net.
There are a lot of notes I wanted to leave about this story, but I felt it would be inappropriate to include them in the chapters; it's not like the notes are necessary in order to read the story (the fact that people are reading it at all brings me satisfaction enough) and never should be in a good story. But if you, the reader, want to know a little more about the setting of the story, the stylistic liberties I took with the series, and why Minako is an alcoholic, this is for you.
Feel free to ask me questions in the comment section of this entry, I'll be sure to answer them to the best of my ability. If you have any suggestions, any at all, I'd love to hear those, too.
IN THE BEGINNING...
Moonlight Legend began from a prompt given by sm_monthly, a really great SM fic writing community that has boosted my creativity when I have the time for it. It wasn't just the prompt that has inspired this story, it's that entire community. My rendition of the characters has been heavily influenced by them, for which I thank them for as I feel the characters are much more lively now-- especially the Shitennou.
Which is where the stylistic liberties come in; this fic is a cross between the comic and live action. It's my fault not being able to keep the two separated, but there's several elements from both versions that I simply can't part with. You'll see this more in the Shitennou than the girls.
Another things I tend to forget is that the girls are fourteen and shouldn't be at a bar guzzling martinis, but it seemed like the villain-esque type of thing to do. Plus, after writing about Queen Serenity being an alcoholic, I couldn't move past from the idea of all of them enjoying their liquor.
OTHER DETAILS
The girls are named after precious stones Naoko Takuechi designated as their "image stones" in the Materials Collection. I debated over using them for a long time because, like others have pointed out, "Emerald" and "Sapphire" are much too similar to Esmeraude and Saphir of the Black Moon Clan. However, I feel that the "image stone" motif mirrors the situation of the Shitennou and decided that those names were the most appropriate.
Another thing I did was slightly skewer some of the facts. Zoisite is actually the youngest of the Shitennou and was originally intended to be treated as a "younger brother" type. I have instead attributed this to Jadeite, which was prevalent in his character in the live action version. What's fanon is his fanaticism and bumbling with Rei. It's true that we see in the comic that he holds a certain obsession for her, but he's much more composed in the comic than in my story-- or maybe that's due to the mind control. :p
By the way, I'm following the comic ages as given in the actual series and listed in the Materials collection (though slightly fudged). Jeddy is 16, Zoi is 17, Nephy is 18, Kunzite 19, Mamoru 16-17, and the girls 14. Though I may just ignore the whole age thing as a 19 year old Kunzite boogying with a 14 year old Minako is creepy.
I feel Nephrite also has a merge of versions as I made him slightly more temperamental like Nephy-kun, yet kept his cooler composure as exampled in the cartoon (he wasn't featured in the comic much, so...). Minako also has a bit of her cartoon self, though I feel she was also a bit of a nut case in the comic.
THE VISUALS
The girls' and Shitennou's uniforms aren't exactly what we've seen before (I'd love to post some fanart some time). I modeled the girls' uniforms off of the Shitennou's grey uniforms, and the Shitennou currently wear their white dress uniform as I feel it symbolizes their cleansing (you can find an image of Kunzite in a white rendition of their uniform in the Materials Collection).
I haven't decided if Mamoru will continue wearing his Tuxedo Mask getup or if he'll wear his princely attire like he did in the live action. I'm inclined to the later as it would look ridiculous to see a tuxedo wearing boy with a top hat paired up with four guys in military garb.
CLOSING
You can find the chapters in this live journal or on Fanfiction.net.