Chapter 1: A New Beginning / Starting Over

Blast from the past: The main reason why it took me so long to revisit Destined Love other than the fact that I've been re-reading and summarizing New Trials for a number of years was because I wasn't prepared to face the cringe. Much like watching old home videos, it's hard to come to terms with your past self. I finally bit the bullet and though I can not deny the amount of embarrassment I've faced from diving into the past, even my critical self can't deny that my story is so cute.

The New Trials connection: I created Destined Love in 2002 and I discovered New Trials in 2003. I was always fond of the fact that Wish-chan and I named our principal OC "Kai", and how we also share the premise of Syaoran coming back to Japan to catch a new set of cards, but I thought the similarities ended there. I titled my first chapter "A New Beginning" while she chose "The New Beginning". My whole premise of Sakura and Syaoran creating cards out of love was pretty much the origin of the Heal Card in NT. When Sakura does the firework display, I was basically describing The Explosion from NT. Finally, Sakura read the Li books, which is how New Trials begins as well!

Reading the relaunch: Chapter 1 is titled Starting Over. With CCS ending with Syaoran going back to China and then returning, it's natural that so many fics started off that way. I liked KID-Z4P's decision to make them Clear Card age. I loved the way he had Eriol return from England. In my fic he came off as a creep who was pining after a girl who was not interested in him for years. While it's actually very fitting for the New Trials version of Clow Reed (except he tried to bring back his girl in another form), that part of my fic did not age well. I never thought of a reality where Sakura was weighed down with the pressure of keeping her magic a secret. While she seemed to have a handle on it in the show, it's clear that she would never have achieved as much as she did without Tomoyo in on the secret. I thought the poem being on paper rather than being recited was a great touch and it works better for them to have their clue written down versus committing a poem to memory after hearing it once.

Review spotlight: Destined Love was fortunate enough to garner 117 reviews and I'll be spotlighting nine of them. This review was posted by my college friend Sarah on November 16th, 2002. She was the one to encourage me to post the fic on fanfiction.net in the first place so she's the one to thank for this journey today. 

Hemlata, that was amazing!

Great story line, it's going to be a great story

I love the fact that they are creating new cards it makes it extremly interesting and makes me want to read more.

Keep on writing!

I'm so glad that i'm the first one to review your work. Don't stop working on these stories i want to know how it's going to turn out!

I'll talk to you more at school on monday

Chow, Sarah

Art: If I'm going to blog about my journey, there is absolutely no way that I could post without featuring a fanart. I was really impressed with the amount of detail that I gave to my new spirits so it's only fair to draw them. The Rendezvous turned out a lot younger than I wanted, but there's lots of room for improvement as I continue drawing. I really loved the way her hair turned out and I decided to not obsess over drawing symmetrical wings.

Up next: Will Tomoyo ever change her opinion about Eriol? Find out in Chapter 2: A Chance!