30 Ways to Conquer Mars

Atogaki - Afterword

There, NOW it's done.

This was hard! I really hadn't thought it through very well when I claimed the pairing. Turns out, neither Zechs, Noin or I are kissy people, lol

Massive thank-yous to everyone who've stayed with me on this. Unlike Noin, I AM an anti-social person, which explains my lack of personalised responses to each and every review and my clumsiness in dealing with fans and sometimes latching on a little too strongly to casual well-wishers. Do NOT mind me. I'm just the jabbering maniac charged with bringing you the word.

And now that it's all settled up, there will be no more said about this continuity. I admit, I'm quite relieved to be done with this. Forget whatever that does not make sense or leaves you going "but what about...???" If it appears in a few chapters then disappears, I probably forgot what I'd thrown it in there in the first place for and tried to sweep it under the carpet hahaha...

Number 31's kiss is "Kiss and Make Up", in case you're wondering, and yes, Zechs' new name could be read as "Noin's Zechs" *cough* did I mention he's an Aquarius boy? They can be such daft, romantic sops.

Number 30's line "Don't make me a bad habit" is inspired by Minirain's 3-part "When Love Becomes a Habit" (.).

I think I've accomplish pretty much what I'd set out to do when I'd first sent in my claim. I'd thought to use it as an engine to help develop a post-EW story idea I had, and have concluded that that story sux. So I found a better one. Watch out for it in the new year =)

2009 will be different. A more humane timetable, more coherent plots, and continuously updated versions... well, that is the plan. I want to offer up work people would pay money for-- not that I seriously mean to charge for fanfiction, unlike some members of Anime fandom at large-- so remarks along that vein on the up-coming serial would not be taken amiss. I generally accept con-crits too.

With that, I'm off to bed.

Current time is 7a.m on December 31st 2008.

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Dec 21st 2008 - An Editorial Dilemma

The first thing you faithful subscribers to this undertaking have to understand is, the 30_kisses challenge was an excuse to get me used to writing again, and to throw thoughts and ideas around and get them out of my head, and tell myself "hey, look you CAN finish something with more than one chapter in it!" and prove each of my excuses for never becoming a prodigy teenaged author wrong.

I'd never expected to gain a readership, much less the support I've received on this half-baked endeavour. I picked ZxN because they bore a special significance to me. I'd thought the GW fandom dead in every circle except yaoi, and the pairing was pretty obscure to begin with.

The perimeters I'd set myself were to write 30 chapters by the end of 2008, using the 30 kisses, to form some kind of continuity and do more than simply jot down notes like "what if this and that and this happens, so possibly that, and this would be a cool thing to say..." without bothering too much with making sense, but at least readable and meeting the bare minimum standard of "postable".

Like I said, I didn't actually expect anyone to pay attention.

But you have, and for that I am both ingratiated and ashamed. You see, I can do better than I have been and because of that, I feel like I'm failing all of you with my every desperate and irresponsible attempt to pull through the rest of this experiment. But I'm going to finish it, so I must apologise for that.

What I'm trying to say is, thank you for the love, for noticing and supporting me, and I'm really sorry I'm being an irresponsible "brat with computer". The actual stories will be better. Really. It's part of my new year's resolution. That and to settle on an appropriate penname.

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