Return of the Cheerleaders

[foeofthelance]

Note: The following letter has been added to the new story as well, for those who get lost on the way to the forum.

Dear AFF Readers,

Well, folks, it seems I have to eat my words (which, fortunately, taste great with barbecue sauce). When I originally finished writing The Cheerleaders over a year ago I had sworn never to touch the characters again, with the exception of the occasional reference here and there. My other stories are all associated with the Greenville Universe, as it became known in my head, with many of the characters being related to the characters who appeared there. The three soldiers in Dreams of Death are the grandfathers of the generation depicted in these stories, and Jason and Eileen from Trelkoara: Legend of the Serpent later became Greenville residents as well. But The Cheerleaders was a done deal.

Admittedly, the Greenville Universe is a fun place for me to work. Three of the characters are already running around with exotic pets (Jason has a black panther named Shadow, Stef has a black bear named Kentai, and Jim has boa constrictor named Snake. He’s green though.) as well existing in a world were gods and ghosts walk amongst mortals. Heck, the school itself was a miracle of modern engineering, with not only a tower, but a swimming pool, bowling alley, and a nuclear bomb shelter all tucked away inside of it. So if a few aliens were to drop by, some people might accuse me of jumping the shark, but as far as I’m concerned that’s all normal business when you live near the Franklins. I also made some friends writing the story**. (Consider this a shout out Storyjunkie!) So why did I stop?

Well, honestly it was because I was burned out when it came to the characters in question. They’d been kidnapped, drugged, mugged, and gone through just about every head ache I could throw at them. Worse, I’d made some stupid (in hindsight) promise to post a new chapter every week. That, more then anything, turned me off to the story. It was no longer about having fun in the playground in my head, it was about fulfilling some needless obligation to a group of people whom I had never met. Yes, I mean you, the readers. It stopped being fun, and it became a job. While I have no problem with the idea of writing for a living, that was not what The Cheerleaders was meant to become, and it did.

So why am I back, writing these characters who I grew to loathe? Well, there are two reasons. First, I was asked to by my family. Yes, that’s right, my family. My mother has actually done some minor editing for the story, my sister had read it, and my brother and father actually sat down with me over lunch and pitched me ideas, resulting in the new characters of Payden and Kevin. The other reason is that I realized as I was writing this first chapter that I had been unfair to the characters when I had decided to abandon them. It wasn’t their fault, after all. There were a few issues with their personalities that we’ve agreed to work on fixing, but that’s not such a big deal. (Any author who doesn’t consider their characters to be real people is either a hack, faking it, or both. Or they’re running around playing with someone else’s characters in a way they shouldn’t be. I know this is a fanfic site, and that that involves using other people’s characters. The difference is that while any one can write a Mary Sue, it takes a real author to take what someone else made and make it their own.*) I’m also going to try and move away from the kinds of villains I used in the first season/novel. Phil, Danielle, and Andy were a bunch of malicious assholes. This time around, while they might still show up, I’m going to try writing more classic Evil Genius types. They are simply more fun, less likely to screw with the way other people operate, and can have a plan fail without turning the main character into a major creep along the way. I will also be employing the same bonus chapter rules, for those of you who remember them or wish to look them up, as well as using the same code phrase to indicate which chapters they are.

So folks, the Greenville Gang is back again. I hope you enjoy The Cheerleaders Return as much as you liked the original. And if you haven’t read the first, well, I hope you just plain enjoy this one. As always, comments and criticisms are welcome.

{*The above is my opinion. It is not a fact. I don’t care if you disagree. If you want to make some point to me, fine, send me an email. I might even reply. But I give fair warning right now that I’m a stubborn bastard and you’re really not going to change my mind, so why try?}

** We are abandoning the Myspace page however. Quite simply, no one was really interested. Though if the original owner of the Vote For Kentai shirt still has the picture, can they email it to me at Foeofthelance@yahoo.com? My laptop kind of got deleted between then and now, and I lost the photo.

The new story can be found here: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600094629

[foeofthelance]

Chapters 2 and 3 are now up.

[foeofthelance]

Chapters 4 and 5 are up, and my muse has take hold, so chapter six shall soon follow!

[foeofthelance]

New chapter up!

http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/story....9&chapter=7

Please read and review!

[foeofthelance]

Chapter 8 is now up. Who wants to go for a bus ride?

http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/story....9&chapter=8

[foeofthelance]

Chapter 9is now up!