The World of Mannah Pierce

[mannahpierce]

I started writing 'In the cold of space you find the heat of suns' in December 2009. I had not written any stories for a long time. I had never written a fanfic. I had just passed my fiftieth birthday and I decided that I had to do something to restart my interest in writing fiction or it was never going to happen. All those notebooks (yes, I started that long ago) and all those computer files would languish forrever unread.

I like Naruto and I decided that a fanfic would be liberating. I was correct. I discovered how much easier it was when it wasn't my character (although that actually did not last that long as I soon became attached) and I found out that writing with readers was much more motivating than writing without them.

Thank you to anyone who has read one of my stories. Even more so to anyone who has ever rated a story, or left a review or sent me an email.

My stories on this site are set in my own world, which for convenience I call 'the World of Mannah Pierce'. It is a SciFi world set in a future that has this world as its distant past.

OK, I tried using the forums before and got little response, but I am hoping that some readers may want to ask questions or make comments about the stories. Maybe the SciFi bits, or stylistic points, or how 'in known space' I got from a Naruto character to the one in my story!

More soon if anyone shows any interest.

With kind regards

Mannah Pierce

Edited March 28, 2011 by mannahpierce

[marley_station]

I started writing 'In the cold of space you find the heat of suns' in December 2009. I had not written any stories for a long time. I had never written a fanfic. I had just passed my fiftieth birthday and I decided that I had to do something to restart my interest in writing fiction or it was never going to happen. All those notebooks (yes, I started that long ago) and all those computer files would languish forrever unread.

I like Naruto and I decided that a fanfic would be liberating. I was correct. I discovered how much easier it was when it wasn't my character (although that actually did not last that long as I soon became attached) and I found out that writing with readers was much more motivating than writing without them.

Thank you to anyone who has read one of my stories. Even more so to anyone who has ever rated a story, or left a review or sent me an email.

My stories on this site are set in my own world, which for convenience I call 'the World of Mannah Pierce'. It is a SciFi world set in a future that has this world as its distant past.

OK, I tried using the forums before and got little response, but I am hoping that some readers may want to ask questions or make comments about the stories. Maybe the SciFi bits, or stylistic points, or how 'in known space' I got from a Naruto character to the one in my story!

More soon if anyone shows any interest.

With kind regards

Mannah Pierce

I love your work, Miss Pierce, and I'm a die-hard fan. I look forward to your updates with the utmost enthusiasm. I don't know if getting published is in the cards for you, but I have to tell you that no publisher worth its salt would even think to turn you away. You are a phenomenon, poised to be the next great thing in literature. I wish you only the very best in your endeavors!

[mannahpierce]

I love your work, Miss Pierce, and I'm a die-hard fan. I look forward to your updates with the utmost enthusiasm. I don't know if getting published is in the cards for you, but I have to tell you that no publisher worth its salt would even think to turn you away. You are a phenomenon, poised to be the next great thing in literature. I wish you only the very best in your endeavors!

Thanks. I really appreciate the support. I wish it were true about becoming published!

[mannahpierce]

lividangel in a recent review asked if Ranmaru remembered his mother...

Back with 'Print Ranmaru', the first version of Ranmaru readers met, there was a bit where I said that he was not sure when his memories of his mother stopped and those about Konan started.

Yes, he remembers his mother. I always imagined that she fell pregnant with an 'unauthorised' child and managed to have him and keep his exisitence secret until he was between three and four. Then she vanished and he was left alone to live or die. In my mind she was accidentally killed and just never came home.

Ranmaru was, for me, the main driving character for 'Iteration'. What does it take to be a real individual. Is a print real? Is a reprint real? Is cloning people a good idea? Is it OK to grown a clone in sensory deprivation and then use it for spare parts, or to prolong life?

However, the plot line was inspired by 'small fox', my beta, who suggested the idea of Pein as an antagonist. That meant working though a version of the Paths and integrating memories acquired by the Paths.

So 'Iteration', which means "doing or saying again; a repeated performance" could refer to Ranmaru (who appears in four versions), or Pein and his Paths, or to Naruto and the kits (who are clones of him), or to Sickler and Kamatari, or to dark and light Zetsu, or even to the 'full-blood Uchiha' characters (Sasuke, Itachi, Haru, Hikaru, Hoshi, Teruko and Takara) who are genertically controlled to have so many aspects of their genomes in common. Actually it refer to all of them.

[Guest unneeded]

hey, just wanted to say still here, still enjoying... though it'd be nice if i could figure out how to use this site right. Not exactly user friendly. Half the time i can't tell if I'm logged in or not...

If i can post reviews n such that means I'm logged in yeah? gah, I'm so confused.

[mannahpierce]

hey, just wanted to say still here, still enjoying... though it'd be nice if i could figure out how to use this site right. Not exactly user friendly. Half the time i can't tell if I'm logged in or not...

If i can post reviews n such that means I'm logged in yeah? gah, I'm so confused.

I think you have to log onto the main site to leave a review and log in here separately. I think the two parts are separate.

Maybe someone who knows ithe site better can clarify that. I have to confess, it took me a number of viists to the forums (this bit) to realise that the 'log in' button was top right but the place where you typed in your user name and password was so far down the page that it was off the screen of my netbook.

What you posted came up though, so whatever you did, it worked.

[Guest lividangel]

lividangel in a recent review asked if Ranmaru remembered his mother...

Back with 'Print Ranmaru', the first version of Ranmaru readers met, there was a bit where I said that he was not sure when his memories of his mother stopped and those about Konan started.

Yes, he remembers his mother. I always imagined that she fell pregnant with an 'unauthorised' child and managed to have him and keep his exisitence secret until he was between three and four. Then she vanished and he was left alone to live or die. In my mind she was accidentally killed and just never came home.

Ranmaru was, for me, the main driving character for 'Iteration'. What does it take to be a real individual. Is a print real? Is a reprint real? Is cloning people a good idea? Is it OK to grown a clone in sensory deprivation and then use it for spare parts, or to prolong life?

However, the plot line was inspired by 'small fox', my beta, who suggested the idea of Pein as an antagonist. That meant working though a version of the Paths and integrating memories acquired by the Paths.

So 'Iteration', which means "doing or saying again; a repeated performance" could refer to Ranmaru (who appears in four versions), or Pein and his Paths, or to Naruto and the kits (who are clones of him), or to Sickler and Kamatari, or to dark and light Zetsu, or even to the 'full-blood Uchiha' characters (Sasuke, Itachi, Haru, Hikaru, Hoshi, Teruko and Takara) who are genertically controlled to have so many aspects of their genomes in common. Actually it refer to all of them.

thank you for the concise explanation:) it's always eye opening to gleen into authors thoughts!

[DemonGoddess]

Forum and archive are two separate applications, so yes, you have to have a login for each, if you want to use them both to the fullest extent you're able to

[mannahpierce]

Forum and archive are two separate applications, so yes, you have to have a login for each, if you want to use them both to the fullest extent you're able to

Thanks!

[mannahpierce]

Why would Klennethon Darrent do almost anything for Shikamaru?

Imagine living one hundred years before you met anyone who understood you.

[Guest Tari]

Must be very lonely to have all that genius and no one understand you. No wonder he is so fascinated with Shikamaru and how he is able to relate to others as oppose to Klenn.

[Guest azh]

I haven't really send any email or review straight to you via AFF even though I'm a big fan of your stories, please do forgive me.

Anyway I love it that you decide to make this thread so that your reader could see more of your thoughts on your story.

I can't really describe it well (English is not my first language and I'm so bad with grammars and.. many other excuses) but I just want you to know that I re-read your story (again) and I was struck by the beauty of it, again and again.

I love how you give Shikamaru and all the others, more characters depth in Iteration. They turns from just a fiction into real peoples with real thoughts and real attitude. I can somehow see them work, talk, and doing everything (even sulking XD). You have create a very mindblowing tales with a very real and believable characters in it and I really admire you for it.

I just want to say thank you for all the hard work and for the very amazing story. Reading it always succeed on cheering me up when I'm down.

Thank you.

[mannahpierce]

Thank you! It is so nice to hear from readers, whether a review, an email or someone posting on this thread.

[mannahpierce]

Warning - spoilers for Iteration up to and including chapter 89

Deciding who lived and who died during the bombing

Originally there was not going to be a third arc of Iteration, but once the second was finished it was clear that there needed to be a third. The way the story had evolved, each arc needs a crisis event. In the first arc it was the defence of the spacer quarter in the Warren and in the second it was the kidnapping of Shikamaru and Haru. The new third arc was all about home and family, so I decided that it would be a bombing. Of course I know who is responsible for the bombing, but I have no intention of giving that away yet.

I had discussed it with my beta, Small Fox, and we had decided that the thrust of the crisis would be that Naruto, Kiba, Haku and Iruka would be out of action and that the rest of the crew were left trying to cope.

Bombings are indicriminate, so I made a cast list. I thentook out all the children, the characters who were away on the Maple, the four characters whom I had decided should be injured and seven characters whom I had decided should not be casualties (Sasuke, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Neji, Konohamaru, Itachi and Kisame). Then I used dice to pick out twelve names. These were the potential victims. I then spent days trying to work out a scenario that was 'true' to the world and the characters.

Two characters were saved by not fitting with the scenario I came up with. Then, at the last minute, I decided not to kill Izumo (one of the randomly chosen characters) because if Izumo was killed the crew would have to recruit another engineer, which I did not have time to address properly.

So that was how I ended up with the nine characters who died:

In the apartments: Shikaku & Yoshino, Tsunade & Jiraiya, C-san & Kunugi

In the unoccupied household: Kurenai, Ibiki & Suzume

Injured are:

Naruto, Iruka, Kiba, Haku & Izumo

Edited June 2, 2011 by mannahpierce

[Guest Kimberly]

Hi! First I wanted to say that I really enjoy your stories. I had stopped reading it a few chapters into Iteration when I fell out of fanfiction. But recently I went through and read it again and was once again impressed by the world you put together. Though it's been awhile since I've watched Naruto so I have to keep going to Wikipedia to see who is who.

When I read it the first time, I swore there was a chapter when the Hyuga's come to talk to Neji, but couldn't find it in my rereading. Did I imagine it, or did I just miss it my second time through?

[mannahpierce]

I confess I have not used this forum thread for some time. I apologise to Guest_Kimberley_* for not answering her question. Hinata visits Neji in 'In the cold of space you find the heat of suns' chapter 88 'Pasts and presents'.

[mannahpierce]

It makes me very sad that when long-standing readers say they are abandoning the story. Sometimes they have decided that they no longer like the story, which is fair enough, but sometimes it is because they believe the story is going somewhere they do not like.

When that happens I wish that AFF had a review reply function, because not every reviewer leaves a email address.

Part of writing a story is to have many possibilities open at any one time. Often the inevitability of one outcome is in the reader's mind.

If there are many ways the story could flow, then twists and turns are more believable. Also, to be honest, sometimes the story does not turn out as I expect, because the story itself and the characters take over.

I do make a point of not answering questions about where the story is going. The great thing about this being a series with a chapter published each week is that readers do not have the opinion of turning to the last page.

[Guest Tanukyle]

Um, in a word, /stuff/ them.

It's your story.

I for one am just glad you chose to turn your considerable skill to publisihing free writing at all.

[Guest SidonieStarr]

I just spent 45 minutes setting dowm my thoughts on your story and it disappeared when I tried to post it. I want to cry!

[mannahpierce]

Tanukyle

I wrote for only myself for decades before posting on this site and realising that having readers makes all the difference. Thank you for reading.

SidonieStarr

I mourn with you for the lost words. Thank you for trying.

[Guest rose_moon]

I have read all of your stories, both Naruto and Original that are on adultfanfiction, and I loved them all. I cannot wait until Leader is complete and hope that when that is finished you will continue working on Jason, the characters of which I also fell in love with. thank you so much for not leaving us on a cliff-hanger. I love your stories so much, and wish I could read them for the first time over and over again, if that makes sense. If you have stories that are not on adultfanfiction, are they anywhere else so I could go find and read those? If they are not posted anywhere, do you think maybe you could post them sometime?

I don't mean to be a bother or pushy, but I love your work so much I just don't want it to end. I would love to read anything you posted, even if it is not connected to this wonderful world you have created.

[Guest Phoenixewolf]

I have reviewed on occasion and have been extremely lax in my reading, life just seems to get in the way of things sometimes. I love you world and stories and am constantly going on to friends to come and check out your fics because they are absolutely amazing. Before Leader started I had been completely updated and reread the series twice before, so when Leader came you couldn't imagine my excitement to have the glipse into the world you created continue. Leader has completely blown all that I possibly thought could happen out of the park. I am aboslutely enthralled with the story and am going to continue reading. I do have to say that like Naruto, I had truly thought Shika and Neji were going to be together forever, so was devastated when Hinata came in and ruined everything. Now as I continue reading I am glad that although the thoughts were troubling that I stuck with the reading and have loved where the story has taken everyone, no matter how difficult life is for them right now. Thanks, I appreciate all you do and the new chapter you bring every week. So again Thanks!

[mannahpierce]

I confess I missed these comments from Guest_rose_moon and Guest_Phoenixiewolf_ when they were first posted. I had not realised that there was a page 2! Sorry.

Thank you both for posting.

Guest_rose_moon

I have other stories but they are not as slick or as well-developed. They were written several (many?) years ago. I do believe that my style has become more accessible and less self-indulgent since I started posted on here and realised that a storyteller needs an audience. I also work with a beta now (Small Fox), which helps a great deal. Perhaps I will post what I have here under Originals.

Guest_Phoenixiewolf_

I listen recently to the author Ian Rankin being interviewed on TV about his detective character Rebus. He spoke as if Rebus was real, saying what Rebus would and would not do. That is how I feel about my characters. They do what they would do. Sometimes it isn't what I would have chosen and many times it is not convenient for the plot. Unfortunately occasionally it upsets the readers. Thanks for sticking with it.

[Guest Destiny]

I don't know if you have answered this before, but do you plan on continuing the Tales In Tarrasade series?

[mannahpierce]

Hi Destiny

Sorry I did not answer sooner. At the moment, I cannot see myself continuing the Tales in Tarrasade series. It is all I can do to crawl towards the end of 'Leader'.

It is difficult to know why I am finding it so hard. It may be because of the restraints I put on myself when I started Leader. I decided only to use the four points of view and maybe that makes it difficult to write spontaneously. Or maybe I have just slowed down.

I think one of my problems is that I find it easier to write about the characters' day-to-day lives than to push a plot on. Leader was conceived to be very plot driven because that was the part of my writing that needed developing.

Oh well, I am learning a lot.