"Casanova Remix" was from the start designed as a way to explain to the reader how the gems worked. They most of all give skills, then behavior, followed by changes to the body. What intrigued me was the topic of womanizer versus sluts. The concept that it is okay or even expected for men to chase women, but not the other way around. I kind of wanted to break the mold by having a woman follow the male standard. The additional part of cross-dressing is the cherry on top. Sadly it was a rather quick first tale. I intended to revisit the topic and this gem in tale number six.

"Smooth Like Stone" was to introduce the concept that the gems grow stronger the more they are exposed to other magic. Much of the inspiration for this tale came from my original fascination with person-to-object transformation. As it switches main characters halfway through the story I made the decision to separate them into individual mini-tales.

"Claimed By Fire" was the deliberate try to tell the reader that gems can result in a "bad ending". I am kind of the writer to always write a happy ending so this was a little hard to write. In the end, I think one could say it is a bad and a good/happy ending depending on the point of view. For the mage, it is a tragic death and a bad ending. For the damsel in distress, it is the fulfilling of her destiny and a happy end.

"Druid Wanted, Druid Needed." started out a lot differently. I really wanted to do a dryad transformation. Originally I imagined a warrior slaying a dryad and finding the gem. Then slowly the warrior would take over the dryad's position. I changed it to a voluntary change and love story mostly because it followed "Claimed by Fire". I wanted to have an upbeat tale to change the mood of the reader.

I imagine some readers felt cheated after reading "The Price Of Vanity". No gender-bending in this one. Like the first part of "Smooth Like Stone" it was intended purely to set up the gem for future tales. In a way, this gem represents one of the most extreme changes. To reset someone's life to that of a baby. More so of a female one. I imagine I will have some fun to now and then give this gem a cameo in future tales.