About Donatien Valiarde:

In the real world, I work as an English Teaching Assistant in a high school in Germany; I'm American, but am living abroad for the duration of the grant for my current job. Within the past year, I graduated from college with a degree in Politics and German Studies, with a minor in Philosophy. When I return to the States next year, I will pursue my studies further into a Master's Program in International Affairs.

Before I got to college, I thought I wanted to make writing my profession. Then I thought better of it, and decided to pursue other passions. While writing is certainly something useful in my chosen field, fictional writing is something I do simply in my spare time, as a hobby.

On Fandoms and Pairings:

I'm not one to have a bunch of different fandoms and pairings. I've seen people with endless lists of couples for whom they have a passing fancy. I, however, have only three, the first two to which I am intensely dedicated. The third is kind of a guilty pleasure (but I totally support it anyway!).

Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly (Final Fantasy VIII)

Leon Scott Kennedy and Ada Wong (Resident Evil)

F!Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect)

Current Projects:

To Love Fate:

My first attempt at a Final Fantasy VIII fanfic, as well as my first attempt at a multi-chapter fanfic. I foresee this being a very long-term project, which will take me some time to finish. In the meantime, I have no other plans for additional fanfics, at least for the moment.

The title "To Love Fate" is derived from the concept of amor fati in Nietzschean philosophy. It is not simply an acceptance of life, its trials and its joys - it is a love of everything involved in life, from the moments of greatest happiness to the moments of greatest suffering and loss. The reason for the selection of this title and the emphasis on Nietzsche's philosophies in both the title and the main epigraph will not be apparent until much, much later in the story.

I'm very honored to share that Greengirlblue has sketched the scene of Timber's Independence Day from Chapter I and posted it to her Deviantart page. Go give it a look and tell her how awesome you think it is!

1/9/12: Chapter IV is up today, and as an advance warning, Chapter V may also be a little slow in coming, but I shall do my best to have it up in a timely manner. In the meantime, I hope that everyone is having a wonderful start to the New Year. Thanks again to all those that read and review.

2/1/12: I posted Chapter V at the beginning of the week - and Chapter VI, I imagine, will also take a big longer in coming. Although the setup thus far has been gradual and, perhaps, a bit slow, the story is steadily moving on into the outset of its main plot. More will be on the way soon.