"Petraverd's my name. But it doesn't matter if you forget it. I can always tell you again."

Welcome, reader, to my humble home here in the world of fanfiction. Who am I? Simply a college guy who loves C. S. Lewis. (Incidentally, yes, I am male. Don't let the unicorn fool you.) It's the only 'fandom' I feel like I know well enough to do it justice, so that'll probably be all you see from me. You see, I'm quite a stickler for sticking to canon. I put a lot of research into the fanfics I write just to make sure everything fits within the boundaries Lewis wrote in his works. The way I see it, if you're going to play around in someone else's world, you should play by their rules. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good, well-written AU fic every now and then, in fact, I've seen some good ones out there. But it does mean I prefer to see work where it's obvious the author respects the original.

There's a lot of fanfiction out there, and of course there's some I like and some I don't. I prefer to see well-written pieces with good grammar - if you're going to write, use the language to the fullest and use it right. (Though I'm quite forgiving if English isn't your first language.) I like seeing fanfic authors who respect the author they're getting the material from. But most of all, I like original plots. There are some VERY overused plots out there where Narnian fanfiction is concerned, and while there are a few good pieces with those overused plots, come on, use some creativity people! I love to see pieces that fill in the numerous gaps Lewis left. There's 100 years of the Winter. The three years between PC and VDT. The 1300 years between LWW and PC. The stories of Moonwood and Swanwhite and Gale and other only-briefly-mentioned characters. It's not like the Chronicles are lacking for material. You just need to know where to look.

I also tend not to be very fond of Narnian romance. Now, while this may be partially due to the fact that I am in fact a guy, I chalk it up more to the fact that romance simply isn't a big part of Narnia. Pretty much all we get is Caspian and Ramandu's daughter. Instead, I prefer seeing fics based on other sorts of love. In the Chronicles, Lewis focuses most on brotherly love (aka friendship) and the love between God and man. So let's see it! Relationships don't always have to be romantic, and it's the non-romantic ones that take the prominent role in the Chronicles. And while I have nothing against romance, it just doesn't fit as well into Narnia as do stories of friendship and Aslan's love for his faithful, at least in my eyes.

Finally, I love spiritual pieces. The Chronicles were indeed written as a Christian series, and I absolutely love pieces that acknowledge it. It's what I feel most 'in my element' writing myself, and a good spiritual Narnian piece really makes my day.

On the subject of inspiration: Well, after several months of developing my talent and going after inspiration with a club sometimes, I've apparently settled into a groove. Thanks to Tierney Beckett and 'Muses 'R' Us,' I now find myself in possession of an actual metaphorical manifestation of my creative inspiration (in short, a muse), in the form of none other than King Tirian. Admittedly, it feels weird having a King watching me write over my shoulder now, but he's thus far proven to be quite a handy companion. He's rather pleasant to work with, very helpful, and he knows his Narnian history like the back of his hand, which is /very/ useful for a strict canonist such as myself. In addition, his loyalty and deep faith in Aslan keep me rooted in the right place. The fact that his dearest friend Jewel just happens to be the character I see myself to be most like is a plus as well. (Tirian also seems to handle plot bunnies quite well... I chalk that up to his ruling over Talking Beasts.)

So, that's me. Updates, thoughts behind my fanfics, and other such things can be found on my blog, so just click the homepage link up there if you feel so inclined. Feel free to poke around, check out my work, look through my favorites (great stuff in there) and review! Part of why I'm here is to improve my writing, after all, and reviews help me do that. Happy reading!