So, a Discord group I'm in did a little challenge. You get a palette or a color and you have to create something with just that.
I think it's really meant for artists, but we decided both artists and writers could do it.
And to challenge myself, I did BOTH.
I did a doodle and a drabble. And because I am me, I just created more Sailor Moon content. I am a one trick pony, folks. XD
When I saw my palette, I immediately knew what I wanted to do. And it involves Camp Universe! One of my favorites.
If you did not read my Camp Elysian fic, you can click there to do so. You do not *need* to read it for this, but you can, and you should because it's fun and nostalgic. Anyway! The short version to catch you up is: the gang all work at a summer camp, Kayden is the main camp counselor. Morgan hates his guts at the beginning. Morgan ends up helping Serena and Darien sneak around because there is a strict no dating rule. Kayden does find out. By the end of the fic, Morgan doesn't hate Kayden any more, and he no longer things she's some dumb kid.
I'll probably put the drabble up on A03 at some point, but this will do for now. It's not polished or beta'd. BUT. It did feel really good to write *something* after such a long time of not doing so. So, enjoy, or don't. *shrug*
“Excuse me, Your Tallness.”
Kayden’s eyes crept to the now cracked opened door, to greet the grinning blonde who had let herself into the cabin.
Without knocking.
But that was Morgan. He could let it slide.
Her arrival was no surprise–as he’d heard her coming through the opened windows, chatting loudly as she always did with some other camper. So no, it was no surprise. He hadn’t realized it was already so late, though. He wasn’t quite ready to leave.
They had plans.
Well, she had plans.
He–he simply just followed her whims.
“Are you ready yet?”
Today’s whim conflicted with his duties. “Uh,” he began, setting down the paperwork he’d been looking through into a neat pile. “One sec.” He looked at his watch, and then instinctively reached for his red clipboard.
“Nuh uh,” she protested loudly. “No Clippy.”
He stilled and looked to her, hands on her hips, her finger wagging in the air as if he was a child reaching for the last cookie. He wasn’t sure what his face had contorted into, but she giggled and bounded over, pushing the clipboard back down to the old, stained coffee table. Then, she took his hand and began trying to tug him from the worn sofa. He knew not to reach for it again.
“I promise we will be back before you have to do your rounds.”
“Like the last time you ‘promised’?”
She rolled her eyes and tugged harder on his arm. “Just come on.”
And he did.
She interlaced their fingers, her hand so small in his, and began quickly leading him down a path of crushed gravel that led away from camp. Morgan was radiant and full of excitement, the last of the day’s sunshine glistening in her hair. He however could not help feeling like everyone was watching him. Watching him get pulled away from camp this close to lights out. What would they say to the one enforcing the rules sneaking off? He could hear the gossip already. Maybe he could come up with some lie? Some emergency he was taking care of. Morgan would tell him to stop worrying, that no one cared, and he shouldn’t care if they said anything anyway.
But he cared.
Mostly he cared because he hadn’t told his grandfather that they were dating yet, and he felt this terrible guilt for setting a bad example and breaking a rule. All behind the back of the greatest man he’d ever known.
But the thought of being away from her all summer was too much. They’d already spent so much time apart.
So, he didn’t disclose their relationship. He was so worried his grandfather would say no. That the rule was there for a very good reason, and grandson or not, he would not allow it. She could not stay. And what would they have done then?
They could have continued just seeing each other on random weekends, talking on the phone after 8 every night, but Morgan was a pretty girl. And how long until the novelty of a long distance relationship wore off? How long until someone who lived near her started showing her attention? Before another Aaron showed up? How long before he wasn’t enough?
All this sneaking around was not as fun as Darien and Serena made it out to be the previous summer. It had only been two weeks, and he was so worried people would find out. That they’d rat him out and Morgan would have to go. He knew Jayden would never, but if he jokingly said he was going to tell just to get out of work one more time, Kayden might snap. Maybe he should just tell his grandfather? Rip the bandaid off. Get Jayden off his back. Stop lying and hoping to not get caught. His grandfather would understand, right? Morgan wasn’t just his girlfriend–
“Hello? Earth to Kayden.”
Kayden blinked. He hadn’t realized they’d arrived. Morgan raised a brow and cocked her head slightly to the side. “There you are. What were you lost in thought about?”
“Nothing,” came his casual response. But not nothing. Everything. Morgan was everything. Professing that though–
“Mmhm. Well, forget about nothing, we’re here!” she exclaimed, proudly showing off her surprise.
His hand felt cold with the loss of contact. Kayden looked around for the first time. He recognized this spot. He had caught Morgan chaperoning lunches for Darien and Serena many times here. He’d helped her cover for them here. Let them have their time in this not-so-secret make out spot. Those were the times he got to know Morgan more, as they talked while keeping lookout for the couple. When he realized she was more than she seemed.
She must have come before she gathered him, he thought. There was a quilted blanket–where she stole it from he did not know–covering a patch of grass between an open area of trees. It was quite serene this time of day, the noise of camp dying off, the shadows dancing along the ground.
She grinned when he noticed, said “tada” in her over-the-top way, and sat down. “Take a seat,” she said while patting the blanket next to her.
She looked so pretty sitting there, the last rays of the light kissing her face and the long shadows from the trees covering the surrounding area like a blanket. He joined her and was rewarded with her leaning into him. He wrapped an arm around her and enjoyed the warmth.
“It’ll be dark soon.” He didn’t know why he said it. He probably ruined the mood, and he instantly regretted it, but the weight of getting back on time was heavy on his mind. He couldn’t help it.
“I know,” she said quietly, leaning closer, looking out toward the slowly retreating light.
He hadn’t figured out exactly what the point of coming out here was yet, other than just being alone together. Which he didn’t mind. He could be a little late for that. He leaned over and tenderly kissed the spot on her neck just below her ear.
Instead of reciprocating, Morgan laughed and pushed him away. “Stop! You’re going to miss it!”
Kayden was confused. Why were they out here, of all places, if not for a little fun?
Morgan rolled her eyes and leaned back into his frame. “You remember when my family took me for vacation out of state for Spring Break?”
He nodded. They’d absolutely annihilated their plans to see each other with that spur of the moment trip.
“On the phone one night while I was away, you described how pretty the sunset was.”
He remembered. After their plans had been ruined, Kayden had offered to come help his grandfather do some spring renovations. The hard labor was a welcome distraction.
“And you said, you wish I could have been there.” She paused, and he pulled her in close. “So, I wanted to share a sunset with you, since we couldn’t before.”
“I do remember,” he replied, kissing the top of her head. “Thank you for remembering.”
He would remember this as the night he resolved to tell his grandfather about Morgan. And how much he loved her.
I’m a huge fan of Sailor Moon OCs and their fanfiction going back to the early 2000s. I’d spend so much time downloading, reading and reviewing, and recently came to the realization the internet has forgotten many of them.
Since the epiphany I’ve made it my goal to save every possible Sailor Moon OC fic I can find from FFnet just in case the day comes I can’t any more. I currently use Google Drive and the chrome extension Fic Lab to do so!
Shining Starseed Fanfiction.net Archive
Here’s my Archive. I make no claim as an author to any of them -so far wink- but also on this tumblr will be commentary on the gems I find, drinking game tropes and reviews as with my mates in the Fan Senshi Alliance Book Club.
What happened between Haruka and Michiru in episode 184, in Usagi's house? Everyone had gone into hiding: Usagi was with Seiya and Chibi Chibi, Rei with Yaten, Makoto and Ami were hurdled together with Taiki... where had our favourite Outer couple gone? And what were they doing? No chaste thoughts for them!
Thanks to @floraone for introducing me to the smutember challenge!
I translated this work of mine to join you all. I mostly write UsaMamo fanfics and I have a lot of smut (explicit one) to show you in the future :)
In the meantime, enjoy wily Michiru! I’ve always thought she is the more enterprising one in the couple!
AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26327152
So last night this happens after almost 3 years in the work I can finally check it off my list #sailormoon #sailormoonfanfiction #sailormoonfanfic https://www.instagram.com/p/B_xmdghlirA/?igshid=v6v6dvx6fky7
New Senshi! New Enemies! The Starlights are back! S/U Y/M T/A Mamo/? ^___^
Starting from the start, the title. Repeating the word ‘Sailor’ makes the title trip up, and adding a colon for extra. Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon: Legendary Hearts seems very inline with the Sailor Moon brand.
The summary is so general in its information. doesn’t really tell me anything. Who is the villain and what is their goal? Why are they dangerous? What makes the OC more interesting than the characters I already know? I also assume that breaking up Usagi and Mamoru is to make room for an OC which always feels like wank to me.
The opening, the chapter title feels in line with Sailor Moon but I’d encourage the writer to make use of FFnets formatting, centre and bolding to make it stand out.
The weird thing is I think the mimicking of the opening could have worked had they done it for multiple chapters and a simple italics. I think the tone does sound like Usagi enough that it doesn’t need the Usagi’s Voice author’s note. The other stuff, the idents and theme song doesn’t because writing is a completely different medium to anime and feels very out of place.
Sailor Vanessa is right in that nowadays certain archives allow gifs where it could be a little bit of flourish, but at the time this was published no chance. Use your medium appropriately and in this case FFnet is just text.
The intro is an overdone trope. Yeah, yeah, Usagi’s late. It’s also jumpy, from the street to Ms Haruna’s classroom? Super weird. I think this highlights how important knowledge of the canon, and making sure you stay within the setting is. When these kinds of details it catapults the reader out of suspension of disbelief. Attention to detail is important.
It’s also a good idea to make sure a scene has a certain length and serves a purpose. The school scene is a handful of sentences before jumping to a different scene in the throneroom of the enemy.
…. Always a throne room. I know Sailor Moon is known but I’ve always assumed it's to save the animation budget. The best thing about fanfic is you are not constrained by budget!
I do appreciate that there’s some appearance detail because in some OC fics you get nothing, but it can be expanded on, like clothes, accessories. Her minion, Tiako, got the lion’s share, and I will say that there is something intriguing about an enemy all in bubblegum pink.
Again, the scene is very… perfunctory? Minion! Do the thing!.... Yes leader, I will do the thing…
And because we’ve watched Sailor Moon we know exactly what the thing is. Again, the scene is so short I don’t have time to get immersed. There’s no atmosphere or emotion, just description.
The dialogue is stilted. I’d introduce the writer to one of those ‘lists of alternative said words’, adverbs and work on combining dialogue with an action to create a more dynamic scene.
"Apologize," said Ami.
Rei suddenly felt a bad vibe coming from random directions. "Guys, I feel something coming..."
"Don't sneak your way out of an apology!" said Usagi.
"She's right, Usagi-chan," said Luna. "Something is coming."
Is only a little better than scriptfic. Better, but not a lot.
Sailor Moon attacking with pies is cute, it’s a creative touch! Kind of on brand but where did she get the pies?
After what feels like forever because nothing really happened, we get the intro of the OC. In fact we get the ol’ Seven Sue Pileup, where five OCs are dumped at once with only a quick description of what they look like. This is the ol’ telling over showing.
This doesn’t work because it’s like going to a party, around the circle with introductions and you never remember who they are! They are just descriptions, no emotions or personality so character wise they’re stickfigure in depth.
I think the best way to introduce multiple OCs in a single scene is one at a time, give each a purpose and a way to shine, showing off their personality more than powers. For example if Sailor Sun is the main and the powerhouse, what if Tiako ran? Sailor Earth might be a tracker, using a visor from a distance to keep track of her and warning caution. Sailor Comet might be the fastest, chasing her down and bragging arrogantly. Sailor Macrocosm could show she’s sneaky, she already predicted the enemy to flee and laid a trap with her attacks causing an argument between Comet and Macrocosm showing their rivals. Then Sun plops down to finish the job.
Each OC should have a reason to be there, otherwise they’re just accessories. Because they are the usual generic first choice of Otaku Senshi creators their team feels incredibly incohesive- Sun, Comet, Earth and Macrocosm…
She wanted them each to feel special so they got to pick their names- including a senshi of the whole universe which is a very interesting choice in that group of friends. (I actually thought of this clip https://youtu.be/JPA9bKz2meI from Southpark).
To review the OC, my guess is Sailor Sun is the avatar OC just because she’s first.
The red pigtails makes me think back in the day she’d be a Usagi recoloured in a .bmp colour scheme with the buns sawn off with a Paint colour palette and plain enough to go on my Sailor Sun Drinking Game page. Apparently she doesn’t wear shoes.
The only other bit of information we get about her is her attack. ‘Sunbeam.’ Aside from being very basic, only described as a golden beam. Sailor Venus wants her attack back. None of this breaks the mold.
So each of these new Guardians spout their attack, destroy the enemy, say something mysterious and vanish back into the shadows leaving the Inners to gasp at how powerful and mysterious they are. Given this is how Uranus and Neptune were introduced, it’s incredibly overused in the Otaku Senshi fandom. Heck, even popular Ocs like Sailor Orion use this trope! But I’m kind of over it and will add it to my own Drinking Game page.
What might have happened is Kotori and Kasumi had some friends they wanted to share this with. Awesome! That’s a great way to keep yourself challenged and inspired! I can imagine two girls in the 2000s sitting at a computer chatting and laughing as they write together! It’s a cute and fun way to write a fic but it also means there’s not a lot of editing. The best way to improve your work is multiple read throughs. Add some here, rephrase something there and slowly sculpt your fic into something more polished and refined.
Two girls sat at a computer and typed and posted it immediately. I always want to find something to praise in a writer because writing is hard. Starting is hard, finishing is hard and chapter 2 is the hardest thing of all.
Unfortunately nothing jumps out at me as unique or original or setting off fireworks in my brain going “Oh! Cool idea! Never seen that before!” and will fade into the great mush of Sailor Moon fics I’ve read before and forgotten.
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So that was my first review, did with the FSA Book Club to get my reviewing chops back. It feels a little bland, not fun at all to read like the old reviews on Livejournal.
I think I’ll also do a little chibi doll to paint over for each of the OCs to give these reviews a little icing. This one was done quick, not chibi enough. Keep an eye out for the next one!
I've always loved drawing little panel comics--I've never been very good at it, but I do love to do it anyway. This is the first time I've done one digitally.
When I got a sneak peak at the fic, I couldn't help but want to draw this scene as a little comic.
I just imagined his little legs shuffling away as he waddled down the hall.
I actually originally drew him as the sun, and Adrianna politely fixed my mistake. 🤣 All hail the mighty undo button.
Go read the fic now! It's super cute, has a little angst in there, and is a fun read!
Art 3/3 coming soon. But you can go see it now if you go read. 😘
