"How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?"
- Plato

Love and Rock Music

I've always loved fan fiction. Ever since I was a kid, I would spend hours making up alternate ending to movies or television shows that didn't end the way I wanted them to. It was my favorite thing to think about before I fell asleep. Later, I would write them down in notebooks, and my very first internet story was a Harry Potter. Yeah, I know. It was ridiculous, but at the time I was very hurt when it was rejected by Mugglenet. Two years after that, I found Fanfiction.net, and I've been here ever since. My first couple of stories were RoryJess, but I've kind of gotten over that now - well, at least writing them. They're still my favorite star-crossed pair. Now, though, I'm more focused on Narnia stories.

Inspiration is a funny thing. Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly emotional, I get the fire and I just write straight out. Sentence after sentence pours out faster than I can type them, and I hardly ever use the backspace button. Unfortunately, this happens very rarely, and I'm an extremely slow writer otherwise. (Thus explains the very slow updates I am prone to.) More than writing, I love editing, so you can imagine how that presents a paradox.

Another thing. I love writing, editing, and especially getting reviews. I won't deny it; I obsess over the ones I get and they make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. However, I never demand them. I don't think it's right to demand anything from anybody, especially people you don't actually know. This philosophy is one I developed when I came across a girl whose profile was one bolded, italicized hate message about how inconsiderate it was for people to view her story but not leave her enough reviews. Like they were her due right or something. Reviews are flattering and helpful, but shouldn't it just be about the fiction? Myself, even just one makes my day.

I know it's a really romantic, unrealistic thing to think, but I like to imagine that Fanfiction.net is a community of people just looking for a happy ending. When it comes to actually reading fiction, I'll try anything once. Or twice. I believe that any idea is worth a read no matter how far-fetched, and if done properly, can become a really great story. Though admittedly, it's not exactly common. As for my own particular tastes, I won't deny that I usually go after the thwarted romance stories, and I'm especially partial to the Jess/Rory, Luke/Lorelai/Christopher, Ephram/Amy, Padmé/Anakin, and Caspian/Lucy. Badly-written posted-for-gratification fiction bothers me. Stories written in the present tense used to annoy me, but lately I've become quite fond of their artistic feel.

If you want to know more about me, here's the basics: My name's Alli, I'm from New York, and I'm eighteen. I love art, music, and the theatre. I know it sounds dorky, but music moves my inner spirit. Most of my stuff is inspired by songs out of my massive iTunes library. Other loves include astrology, herbal tea, and shoes. I read everything from Shakespeare to Jerry Spinelli, to The Chronicles of Narnia, to watching movies with subtitles. All of my stories are born from passion, pretzels, Chex Mix, and cookie dough ice cream.

As for My Favorites, I cannot make any greater recommendation; they are authors and stories I hold in highest regard. They're all incredibly well-written pieces, with the exception of My Immortal by XXXbloodyrists666XXX. It's the most horrendous piece of fan fiction ever written - or else a brilliant, exquisite satire. I keep it around for kicks, as a reminder of the monster that is Mary Sue, and also as a testament to the very worst of fan fiction.

I recently read Neil Gaiman's short story, "The Problem of Susan", and I heartily dislike it. I think it reads like overdone fan fiction and was executed in bad taste. (Read it for yourself here.) Like it? Hate it? PM and we'll discuss.

I am registered as a FF.net beta reader; click the link above to check out my stats.

Elsewhere on the internet, my work is featured on the awesome fanfic listing, Narnia Fan Fiction Revolution, and the all-encompassing Chronicles fansite, The Lion's Call.

Check out my totally awesome completely upgraded homepage/profile supplement, either from the link above or right here!

Story Breakdowns

Gilmore Girls

I sincerely love the Rory & Jess pairing. They were made for each other! Part of what makes the Rory/Jess so great for fandom are all the missed chances. What if Rory had sent that letter? What if Jess had listened to that message? What if they had talked before Fran's funeral? What if she had said yes when he asked her to run away together? They had so many opportunities for a happy ending (or beginning), but they couldn't pull it together. At least, however, Rory turned down that pretentious snot Logan.

I Will Follow You Into The Dark
This one I wrote shortly after hearing the beloved Death Cab for Cutie song. If you've ever heard it, you'll know that most people's reaction is to cry. I was not an exception. The song itself was so powerful that it pushed me into creative nirvana and well, there you go.

I'll Meet You There
My first FF.net story, and it shows. (Which isn't exactly a good thing.) Inspired by the less popular yet still classic Simple Plan song, I had this story is a kind of rationalizing of RoryJess moments in the series - explaining why they did what they did and how they always had feelings for each other. Since I plotted it out the summer before Season 7, it's becomes AU-Literati at the end.

The Setting Sun
Apparently I can't get enough of succumbing Rory to terminal illness and getting Jess to kill himself. I wrote this in homage to Black Snow, who stays true to her penname and writes awesomely depressing Literati. It's my attempt to write something passion-provoking and meaningful, via the present tense.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is also a great medium for fan fiction because of the style of C.S. Lewis's writing. He skips over big gaps of time with only couple sentences of summary, leaving the background to the reader's imagination. If that's not the perfect candidate for some fiction, then I don't know what is. Plus there's all the different dimensions of characters, places, and times that are all open to interpretation. I do have my limits, though, and the major one is incest. I think it's wrong, and gross, and not what C.S. Lewis meant when he encouraged others to write stories about Narnia in "Letters to Children". And while I have no beef with slash fiction, I don't avidly seek it, since it’s not really present in canon. I also hate those stupid parody movie-verse stories. There's so much more to the Chronicles!

A Web Woven
A Web Woven forms the basis of my Narnian universe. It works with the theory that maybe, every one the monarchs of Narnia were somehow blood related. Of course, it was also a way for me to work in all my favorite pairings. All of my Narnia stories fit into this established fanon.

An Empty World
This is just a little oneshot I wrote detailing Peter's feelings of grief, confusion, and abandonment in between The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. It's basically another sample from my "lyrical present tense" phase.

The Call of the Horn
My response to the heartbreaking end of Caspian's Queen, an absolutely wonderful story by Francienyc. It's probably the most perfect expression of Lucy/Caspian ever, and my default recommendation to anyone remotely interested. The end was so heart-wrenching that I had to indulge myself: TCotH is a story in which Caspian and Lucy get to be together, but must face the consequences.

Like Broken Glass
This started out as the sequel to The Call of the Horn, but it expanded into a portrait of the Pevensies' lives pre-Last Battle. The bulk of the story explores Lucy's feelings about leaving Caspian, via vodka and as told to Edmund. It spawned a AU spin-off that can be found in Odds and Ends.

Lily's Eyes
My attempt at writing a big, sweeping, epic romance. It’s planned for about 18 chapters. . . Ha ha ha. Right now, only the first chapter, which is a prologue, has been published. The plot centers around a love triangle between Peter, Edmund, and an OC of my own. After sitting dormant on my account for nearly a year, I'm happy to say I've picked it up again at last; this summer will hopefully yield three new chapters. Really.

Other

Odds and Ends
This is a weird story/scrapbook/collection of oneshot spin-offs that span my entire Narnian Universe, but aren't strictly my fanon - they're usually explorations of how things could have gone. There's also a few other smaller stories from Gilmore Girls thrown in there. The full title of this "story" was originally Odds, Ends, Alternate Endings, Inserts, Oneshots, and Everything Else - which really should say it all.