Final Notes On Rainbow's Freedom (The End)
So, the final chapter has been posted and the work has been completed. Whew! Wipes brow. It’s been a wild, crazy ride my friends! :) Thanks to all who stuck with me and especially to those who commented. Without comments I’m not sure this Epic would have been completed, or at least not as quickly. Comments keep the Muses inspired, you know. ;) Your reactions and ideas helped me as I wrote and while I definitely kept my own vision, there were modifications made because your questions and thoughts made me think, all for the better!
I started this Epic in my notebook on January 29, 2007 and finished the first draft on December 3, 2011. I started posting on March 15, 2007 and finished on March 29, 2013. So it was five years in the writing stage and six for posting. It took awhile for posting because I was busy working on other fanfic projects and in the final year, my profic. All nine arcs clocked in at the word count of 479,218.
The idea I started with was this: the heady situation of having a super-powered being at your command, especially in the bedroom. The boys had played D/s games but I added the element of actual slavery: how would they negotiate that tricky relationship? Could they genuinely fall in love? If they did, what problems would arise? Because in a slave-owning society, not just the slaves are restricted by the laws and rules. The owners are, as well. Would things happen that Bruce objected to but had little power, even with all his wealth and money, to stop? These were the questions I wanted to explore as I began this project.
In the beginning, Bruce was aware of slavery but on an intellectual level. He had been protected from the more brutal aspects and was so consumed with his Mission that it was mere background for the early part of his life. The only slave he had frequent contact with was Alfred, and that relationship was far more than Master and slave: father and son, mentor and charge, and all the complexities of the relationship we know so well. My objective was to show the moral growth of Bruce Wayne, a good man who was merely oblivious, cosseted by privilege and absorbed by grief. He eventually becomes one of the more ardent supporters and leaders of the Abolitionist Movement.
Clark was a tabula rasa in many ways. Waking up in the slavers’ camp with no memory, he was at their brutal mercies and suffered for it. Timid and unsure, he was sold to Bruce and had to learn how to be a pleasure slave as he struggled with the loss of identity and his past. He was still Clark, though, a sweet, compassionate man who couldn’t let a little girl be beaten, and he was severely punished for it. The telltale line is when he says that he would do the same thing again, even with the punishment. Clark gradually learns to assert himself even while still a slave and his own personality begins to emerge even stronger as the love grows between him and Bruce. His essence was always there beneath the slave collar and bracelets.
They had peaks and valleys as they struggled to balance being lovers and Master and slave. Even after Clark regains his memories and powers, the balance is needed.
Diana was introduced because the Amazon history is one of slavery. I wanted to show that despite their suffering, they were still Amazons. Steve and Hal gave them the means to free themselves, but they did the work as they wreaked their vengeance and freed themselves from Man’s tyranny. Despite her experiences Diana fell in love with Steve and Hal, not in a Stockholm Syndrome kind of way (they had nothing to do with her people’s slavery) but proving that love was love no matter what.
It was fun to bring in the other DC heroes, and of course I had to bring in Dick Grayson! ;) But all the characters were carefully introduced as they made their contributions to the story. Some were free and some were slaves but all were important in their own way.
Dick was necessary to establish a strong family atmosphere for Bruce in the Manor. He would reflect on the irony of the three most important people in his life all being slaves and driving his involvement in the Abolitionist Movement. Dick was a slave so to emphasize Bruce’s growth and also give him yet more reasons to emotionally recognize slavery’s injustice.
The Abolitionist Movement was represented by Martha and Jonathan Kent, Kathy Kane (Bruce’s cousin and Batwoman) and Senator Lana Lang, (D-Kansas). All would work tirelessly for the Cause and bring Bruce in.
Lex was introduced at first as a potential villain, but then I changed my mind and went for the early-season Smallville version of the character: possibility of sketchy actions but basically a decent person. And he learned more about the Movement and his own heart after Bruce gifts him with a slave, Jamie, saving him from the Caldwell clutches.
Kara Zor-El, Clark’s cousin, was an anti-slavery zealot. After witnessing the murder of her parents and fellow Kryptonians by the Empire because of the Hunt Decree, she went on a tireless crusade to foment rebellion and freedom. She hated Bruce for being a slaveowner but there was a slim possibility that she would learn to take things on a case-by-case basis, but she represented the zealots. Every Movement has them and they are necessary in the beginning to bring the issues to public consciousness and while they are pushed to the background when the compromisers are needed, they are still important.
Original characters were necessary at times and none were more memorable than the genuinely evil Edmund Caldwell. He was difficult to write because it wasn’t pleasant to get into his head, but he generated dozens of comments and drove the story along.
The setting was the future to expand some of the drama: a Galactic Empire could tell the story of Kryptonians better as they were ruthlessly Hunted and other worlds like Jovara showed other ways of dealing with slavery.
I made a lot of new friends because of this story and quite a few people friended me because of it. I wrote just about every day, taking brief hiatuses here and there to keep my inspiration fresh, but it was a wonderful disciplinary writing experience as well as one of joy. I wrote it for love and I hope it reflects that.
Rainbow’s Freedom was always meant as a prologue of sorts. The relationship between Clark and Bruce would be resolved but it was too big a story to tell in nine arcs. So the Kadoran War has begun and the fight for freedom will continue, and most likely will be realized in our heroes’ lifetimes. Any further stories from me will not be long arcs but short pieces that skip around the timeline under the title of The Freedom Chronicles. They will be stories from the Book of Freedom & Slavery, the Book of War, etc.
One grammar note: Rainbow is singular, not plural, therefore the ‘s instead of s’. It bothers me that people might think I’m doing the irritating mistake (it’s not the Kent’s Farm, it’s the Kents’ Farm!). I should have named it Freedom’s Rainbow but it’s a little late to change things now. ;) So, yes, I DO know my grammar! :)
So, I hope you enjoyed the journey of Rainbow’s Freedom as much as I did. :)
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I started this Epic in my notebook on January 29, 2007 and finished the first draft on December 3, 2011. I started posting on March 15, 2007 and finished on March 29, 2013. So it was five years in the writing stage and six for posting. It took awhile for posting because I was busy working on other fanfic projects and in the final year, my profic. All nine arcs clocked in at the word count of 479,218.
The idea I started with was this: the heady situation of having a super-powered being at your command, especially in the bedroom. The boys had played D/s games but I added the element of actual slavery: how would they negotiate that tricky relationship? Could they genuinely fall in love? If they did, what problems would arise? Because in a slave-owning society, not just the slaves are restricted by the laws and rules. The owners are, as well. Would things happen that Bruce objected to but had little power, even with all his wealth and money, to stop? These were the questions I wanted to explore as I began this project.
In the beginning, Bruce was aware of slavery but on an intellectual level. He had been protected from the more brutal aspects and was so consumed with his Mission that it was mere background for the early part of his life. The only slave he had frequent contact with was Alfred, and that relationship was far more than Master and slave: father and son, mentor and charge, and all the complexities of the relationship we know so well. My objective was to show the moral growth of Bruce Wayne, a good man who was merely oblivious, cosseted by privilege and absorbed by grief. He eventually becomes one of the more ardent supporters and leaders of the Abolitionist Movement.
Clark was a tabula rasa in many ways. Waking up in the slavers’ camp with no memory, he was at their brutal mercies and suffered for it. Timid and unsure, he was sold to Bruce and had to learn how to be a pleasure slave as he struggled with the loss of identity and his past. He was still Clark, though, a sweet, compassionate man who couldn’t let a little girl be beaten, and he was severely punished for it. The telltale line is when he says that he would do the same thing again, even with the punishment. Clark gradually learns to assert himself even while still a slave and his own personality begins to emerge even stronger as the love grows between him and Bruce. His essence was always there beneath the slave collar and bracelets.
They had peaks and valleys as they struggled to balance being lovers and Master and slave. Even after Clark regains his memories and powers, the balance is needed.
Diana was introduced because the Amazon history is one of slavery. I wanted to show that despite their suffering, they were still Amazons. Steve and Hal gave them the means to free themselves, but they did the work as they wreaked their vengeance and freed themselves from Man’s tyranny. Despite her experiences Diana fell in love with Steve and Hal, not in a Stockholm Syndrome kind of way (they had nothing to do with her people’s slavery) but proving that love was love no matter what.
It was fun to bring in the other DC heroes, and of course I had to bring in Dick Grayson! ;) But all the characters were carefully introduced as they made their contributions to the story. Some were free and some were slaves but all were important in their own way.
Dick was necessary to establish a strong family atmosphere for Bruce in the Manor. He would reflect on the irony of the three most important people in his life all being slaves and driving his involvement in the Abolitionist Movement. Dick was a slave so to emphasize Bruce’s growth and also give him yet more reasons to emotionally recognize slavery’s injustice.
The Abolitionist Movement was represented by Martha and Jonathan Kent, Kathy Kane (Bruce’s cousin and Batwoman) and Senator Lana Lang, (D-Kansas). All would work tirelessly for the Cause and bring Bruce in.
Lex was introduced at first as a potential villain, but then I changed my mind and went for the early-season Smallville version of the character: possibility of sketchy actions but basically a decent person. And he learned more about the Movement and his own heart after Bruce gifts him with a slave, Jamie, saving him from the Caldwell clutches.
Kara Zor-El, Clark’s cousin, was an anti-slavery zealot. After witnessing the murder of her parents and fellow Kryptonians by the Empire because of the Hunt Decree, she went on a tireless crusade to foment rebellion and freedom. She hated Bruce for being a slaveowner but there was a slim possibility that she would learn to take things on a case-by-case basis, but she represented the zealots. Every Movement has them and they are necessary in the beginning to bring the issues to public consciousness and while they are pushed to the background when the compromisers are needed, they are still important.
Original characters were necessary at times and none were more memorable than the genuinely evil Edmund Caldwell. He was difficult to write because it wasn’t pleasant to get into his head, but he generated dozens of comments and drove the story along.
The setting was the future to expand some of the drama: a Galactic Empire could tell the story of Kryptonians better as they were ruthlessly Hunted and other worlds like Jovara showed other ways of dealing with slavery.
I made a lot of new friends because of this story and quite a few people friended me because of it. I wrote just about every day, taking brief hiatuses here and there to keep my inspiration fresh, but it was a wonderful disciplinary writing experience as well as one of joy. I wrote it for love and I hope it reflects that.
Rainbow’s Freedom was always meant as a prologue of sorts. The relationship between Clark and Bruce would be resolved but it was too big a story to tell in nine arcs. So the Kadoran War has begun and the fight for freedom will continue, and most likely will be realized in our heroes’ lifetimes. Any further stories from me will not be long arcs but short pieces that skip around the timeline under the title of The Freedom Chronicles. They will be stories from the Book of Freedom & Slavery, the Book of War, etc.
One grammar note: Rainbow is singular, not plural, therefore the ‘s instead of s’. It bothers me that people might think I’m doing the irritating mistake (it’s not the Kent’s Farm, it’s the Kents’ Farm!). I should have named it Freedom’s Rainbow but it’s a little late to change things now. ;) So, yes, I DO know my grammar! :)
So, I hope you enjoyed the journey of Rainbow’s Freedom as much as I did. :)
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