Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

Everything Evangelion Fanfiction related.

Moderators: Derantor, Board Staff

Kendrix
Defender of Puppy Boy
Defender of Puppy Boy
User avatar
Age: 30
Posts: 6697
Joined: Jul 27, 2010
Location: Germany
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Kendrix » Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:43 pm

Regarding the "it's been done before" topic I can only say:
[img=https://fanlore.org/w/images/d/df/Two_cakes_rule_of_fandom.png][/img]

One could draw a similar comic where the author is worrying about the thing being too derivative while the reader thumbing through the 10 millionth coffeeshop AU is like "Yes, this exactly scratches the itch!"

If you've got the time and the energy do it, even if you do a story that's been done before, you'll be giving it your own unique spin just by filtering it through your perception

Just get rid of the Asushin :devil:
I wanted to try harvesting the rice

I wanted to hold Tsubame more

I wanted to stay together forever with the boy I like

amitakartok
Nerv Scientist
Nerv Scientist
User avatar
Age: 33
Posts: 1690
Joined: Jan 05, 2011
Location: The Ass End of Nowhere (TM)
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby amitakartok » Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:07 pm

What, you don't like AsuShin?
Strategic Cyborg Evangelion : an average author's aspiring attempt at awesomeness. Currently at chapter 42.

Mana, Mayumi and Sakura: the TRUE goddesses of Eva

amitakartok
Nerv Scientist
Nerv Scientist
User avatar
Age: 33
Posts: 1690
Joined: Jan 05, 2011
Location: The Ass End of Nowhere (TM)
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby amitakartok » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:21 pm

...had a silly mental image today when my mind remembered Shinji and WH40k from years past: take the same idea (Shinji finding fictional material at a young age that profoundly alters his personality) but genderflip it and replace WH40k with Gunbuster.

Thus the tentative title: Shinji Aims For The Top! (exclamation mark included)

It wouldn't be an instant characterization change, but a gradual one. Shinji's initial personality is kept, it's only the progression that's altered. Plus I thought it'd be funny if Asuka was Shinji's oneesama and the first time Shinji calls her as such, Asuka pauses... then goes "that's right, I am your better and it's a good thing you recognize the fact".

Though their relationship is less senpai/kouhai (though Shinji does think of Asuka as a senpai when it comes to piloting and pushes herself hard specifically to get her approval) and more "Shinji randomly going fucking nuts and Asuka pushing herself even harder to not fall behind".
Strategic Cyborg Evangelion : an average author's aspiring attempt at awesomeness. Currently at chapter 42.

Mana, Mayumi and Sakura: the TRUE goddesses of Eva

Derantor
Former Moderator
Former Moderator
User avatar
Age: 32
Posts: 712
Joined: Oct 20, 2019
Location: The Beach
Gender: Male

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Derantor » Mon Jun 29, 2020 5:46 am

^It's been a long time since I've seen Gunbuster, but Noriko doesn't seem too different from Shinji in many ways. Where do you want to take his character? Do you aim more for a lighthearted take or a serious fic?
My writing on Ao3 and FFN

amitakartok
Nerv Scientist
Nerv Scientist
User avatar
Age: 33
Posts: 1690
Joined: Jan 05, 2011
Location: The Ass End of Nowhere (TM)
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby amitakartok » Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:35 pm

That's still up for grabs, although I feel at least some level of seriousness would work best. Not completely serious, though; Shinji and Asuka mutually pushing each other to perform better and better (and possibly even the Angels upping their game in response) will inevitably result in NERV just collectively deciding to throw their hands up and stop trying to explain how their Evas are pulling off whatever they do. So, middle ground between serious and lighthearted.

As I explained elsewhere, I feel Noriko is a good fictional role model for Shinji not because she's badass, but because she started where he did and clawed her way up from there. She wasn't a failure early on because she couldn't hit the mark, but because she didn't believe she could and thus didn't even try, which caused others to not believe in her either, which in turn drove her to put herself down even further in a self-destructive spiral.
Strategic Cyborg Evangelion : an average author's aspiring attempt at awesomeness. Currently at chapter 42.

Mana, Mayumi and Sakura: the TRUE goddesses of Eva

UrsusArctos
The Beginning and The End
The Beginning and The End
User avatar
Posts: 10501
Joined: Jun 28, 2007

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby UrsusArctos » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:11 pm

View Original Postamitakartok wrote:...had a silly mental image today when my mind remembered Shinji and WH40k from years past:


Lulz, and I was just thinking about that crazy fic! :lol: Man, that was quite an experience.

By the way, you should change Shinji to Shinjiko for this fic :wink:

It wouldn't be an instant characterization change, but a gradual one. Shinji's initial personality is kept, it's only the progression that's altered. Plus I thought it'd be funny if Asuka was Shinji's oneesama and the first time Shinji calls her as such, Asuka pauses... then goes "that's right, I am your better and it's a good thing you recognize the fact".

Though their relationship is less senpai/kouhai (though Shinji does think of Asuka as a senpai when it comes to piloting and pushes herself hard specifically to get her approval) and more "Shinji randomly going fucking nuts and Asuka pushing herself even harder to not fall behind".


This is a very interesting idea. The image of Shinjiko turning into Noriko and calling out Gunbuster attacks is a hard one to beat.

You've piqued my curiosity, sir. Go ahead!
(Was Board Staff from Dec 31, 2007 - Oct 17, 2015 and Oct 20, 2020 - Aug 1, 2021)
Not knowing that Monk is bi is like not knowing the Pope is Catholic - ZapX
You're either really bad at interpreting jokes or really good at pretending you are and I have no idea which.-Monk Ed
WAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!(<-link to lunacy)...Taste me, if you can bear it. (Warning: Language NSFW)
The main point of idiocy is for the smart to have their lulz. Without human idiocy, trolling would not exist, and that's uncool, since a large part of my entertainment consists of mocking the absurdity and dumbassery of the world, especially the Internet.-MaggotMaster

amitakartok
Nerv Scientist
Nerv Scientist
User avatar
Age: 33
Posts: 1690
Joined: Jan 05, 2011
Location: The Ass End of Nowhere (TM)
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby amitakartok » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:37 pm

View Original PostUrsusArctos wrote:By the way, you should change Shinji to Shinjiko for this fic :wink:


I don't name-change characters when genderbending them. In fact, for one of my stories I even came up with an excuse for why the character in question has a gender-inappropriate name.

This is a very interesting idea. The image of Shinjiko turning into Noriko and calling out Gunbuster attacks is a hard one to beat.

You've piqued my curiosity, sir. Go ahead!


Oh, I would if I could. I'm kinda suffering from depression-induced writer's block right now. I last updated my ongoing Eva fic in April and am trying to break the ice so fiercely that I've even started penning down a KawoAsu smut version of the upcoming chapter just to get my creative juices flowing.
Strategic Cyborg Evangelion : an average author's aspiring attempt at awesomeness. Currently at chapter 42.

Mana, Mayumi and Sakura: the TRUE goddesses of Eva

UrsusArctos
The Beginning and The End
The Beginning and The End
User avatar
Posts: 10501
Joined: Jun 28, 2007

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby UrsusArctos » Mon Aug 03, 2020 4:22 pm

View Original Postamitakartok wrote:I don't name-change characters when genderbending them. In fact, for one of my stories I even came up with an excuse for why the character in question has a gender-inappropriate name.


Come to think of it, I like this approach. Do carry on, I'm curious to see what you'll create, writer's block be damned.
(Was Board Staff from Dec 31, 2007 - Oct 17, 2015 and Oct 20, 2020 - Aug 1, 2021)
Not knowing that Monk is bi is like not knowing the Pope is Catholic - ZapX
You're either really bad at interpreting jokes or really good at pretending you are and I have no idea which.-Monk Ed
WAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!(<-link to lunacy)...Taste me, if you can bear it. (Warning: Language NSFW)
The main point of idiocy is for the smart to have their lulz. Without human idiocy, trolling would not exist, and that's uncool, since a large part of my entertainment consists of mocking the absurdity and dumbassery of the world, especially the Internet.-MaggotMaster

Reichu
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 24046
Joined: Aug 21, 2004
Location: Sailing for the white shores
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Reichu » Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:45 pm

"Shinjiko" isn't a true gender swap, incidentally. It's just a boy's name with "-ko" slapped into the end. "Shinko" is an actual girl's name. The -ji given name ending screams "male", but that makes those names pretty easy to feminize. Touji? Touko. Ryouji? Ryouko. Kouji? Kouko. Etc.
さらば、全てのEvaGeeks。
「滅びの運命は新生の喜びでもある」
Departure Message | The Arqa Apocrypha: An Evangelion Analysis Blog

amitakartok
Nerv Scientist
Nerv Scientist
User avatar
Age: 33
Posts: 1690
Joined: Jan 05, 2011
Location: The Ass End of Nowhere (TM)
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby amitakartok » Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:53 pm

And when people insist that FemKaworu should be Kaoruko instead of Kaori.
Strategic Cyborg Evangelion : an average author's aspiring attempt at awesomeness. Currently at chapter 42.

Mana, Mayumi and Sakura: the TRUE goddesses of Eva

Reichu
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 24046
Joined: Aug 21, 2004
Location: Sailing for the white shores
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Reichu » Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:57 pm

Kaworu is gender neutral in the first place so it's not like it even needs to be changed. Even less necessary with how much the character plays with the idea of androgyny. But yeah, "Kaori" is the way to go if the author insists upon changing it.
さらば、全てのEvaGeeks。
「滅びの運命は新生の喜びでもある」
Departure Message | The Arqa Apocrypha: An Evangelion Analysis Blog

UrsusArctos
The Beginning and The End
The Beginning and The End
User avatar
Posts: 10501
Joined: Jun 28, 2007

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby UrsusArctos » Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:42 pm

View Original PostReichu wrote:"Shinjiko" isn't a true gender swap, incidentally.<snip>


That's interesting, I hadn't realized that -ko could be substituted for -ji and vice-versa to get the female and male versions of a particular name.

"Shinjiko" was something that I'd remembered from the old days of the forum and I'd used it more for nostalgia than as a purely serious suggestion. Synapsid, I think, had used that more than once.
(Was Board Staff from Dec 31, 2007 - Oct 17, 2015 and Oct 20, 2020 - Aug 1, 2021)
Not knowing that Monk is bi is like not knowing the Pope is Catholic - ZapX
You're either really bad at interpreting jokes or really good at pretending you are and I have no idea which.-Monk Ed
WAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!(<-link to lunacy)...Taste me, if you can bear it. (Warning: Language NSFW)
The main point of idiocy is for the smart to have their lulz. Without human idiocy, trolling would not exist, and that's uncool, since a large part of my entertainment consists of mocking the absurdity and dumbassery of the world, especially the Internet.-MaggotMaster

Reichu
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 24046
Joined: Aug 21, 2004
Location: Sailing for the white shores
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Reichu » Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:56 pm

View Original PostUrsusArctos wrote:That's interesting, I hadn't realized that -ko could be substituted for -ji and vice-versa to get the female and male versions of a particular name.

I'm not sure if it will work for every single case, so it does help to check and make sure that a name actually exists before using it, but it's a useful rule of thumb nonetheless.
さらば、全てのEvaGeeks。
「滅びの運命は新生の喜びでもある」
Departure Message | The Arqa Apocrypha: An Evangelion Analysis Blog

amitakartok
Nerv Scientist
Nerv Scientist
User avatar
Age: 33
Posts: 1690
Joined: Jan 05, 2011
Location: The Ass End of Nowhere (TM)
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby amitakartok » Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:36 am

View Original PostReichu wrote:it does help to check and make sure that a name actually exists before using it


Which is why, when I need a name for an OC, I hit up a list of common Japanese given names.
Strategic Cyborg Evangelion : an average author's aspiring attempt at awesomeness. Currently at chapter 42.

Mana, Mayumi and Sakura: the TRUE goddesses of Eva

MarqFJA87
Tunniel
Tunniel
User avatar
Age: 37
Posts: 166
Joined: Nov 17, 2013
Location: Saudi Arabia
Gender: Male

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby MarqFJA87 » Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:53 pm

View Original Postamitakartok wrote:And when people insist that FemKaworu should be Kaoruko instead of Kaori.

While Kaoruko is an actual girl's name, Kaoru is unisex.

View Original PostReichu wrote:I'm not sure if it will work for every single case, so it does help to check and make sure that a name actually exists before using it, but it's a useful rule of thumb nonetheless.

The name doesn't strictly need to be real. There's no shortage of anime/manga characters of in-universe Japanese nationality that have made-up given and/or family names even in mundane modern-day settings.
"Our magic is not omnipotent. A little bit of courage is the true magic."
–Negi Springfield, Negima: Magister Negi Magi

"Where there is distress, therein lies a story. Where there is a story, therein lies a will. And wherever there is a will, therein lies a soul."
–Evangeline A.K. McDowell, Negima: Magister Negi Magi

JonL
Embryo
Posts: 9
Joined: Oct 12, 2020

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby JonL » Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:03 am

Shinjis guardian happens to be onizuka.

Kendrix
Defender of Puppy Boy
Defender of Puppy Boy
User avatar
Age: 30
Posts: 6697
Joined: Jul 27, 2010
Location: Germany
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Kendrix » Fri Dec 18, 2020 4:51 pm

There is one idea from the depths of the old thread that still ghosts around in my head once in a while, I think someone floated the idea of "Something that starts of like ep 26 AU or SRIP verse but gradually turns into something more like canon", Rei starting out AU-like & gradually becoming more like canon Rei etc.

Since then I'd kept thinking of it every once in a while.

There's at least one spinoff Manga - it eludes me which - has Misato move in to babysit Shinji because Gendo & yui are too busy at the lab; Something like that could happen. I mean even "they are from ep 26" and "they are alive & present but are still workaholics" is a different gradation of Happy-AU-Ness.
& the actual SIRP game has this actually kinda fascinating mechanic of shifting between three tones (if you go back from "highschool AU" to the middle route, it looks like Gendo gets a redemption because Teacher!Misato chewed him out in the parent teacher meeting...)

If i ever did that I'd have to restrict myself to "No more than number of episodes +1 chapters per act" and maybe a few extra chapters for setup ( since I've learned from experience that having too many open ended long projects going at once means none gets finished) & if I added any extracanonical chars they'd have to be ordinary classmates.

What might the emotional crux be? You could play it for your basic "I thought the world was simple when I was young but it's complicated" or do something like middle earth's fading in reserve. Instead of the great & epic mournfully leaving behind the mundane, it could be an alienating, confusing "weirdening" of the world (I think that's the main factor keeps attracting me to the idea.)
Other things that are interesting are the possibility of having Gendo & yui be proper parents while still being Gendo and Yui: a ruthless pragmatist & a detached visionary.
That, and end of TV had this whole emphasis on how for the three main children, being an EVA pilot had practically eaten their identities. In the case of canon that was precisely because of how little else their sucky, trauma-filled lives contained for them to derive self-worth; The AU sequence is a wakeup call like, "Hey look there's parts of you unrelated to piloting"
An ambitious fun way to add structure could be to switch one gradation of "normal AU"-ness per storyarc.
At the end you would have the same result of "people possessed by EVA" (in the sense that Misato uses that phrase at the end of ep 23), and what they were at the start would seem like a faded dream - The mood would be something like this song, or perhaps this one.
At least, at the time that the story reaches its "belly of the whale" moment. The ultimate conclusion would probably emerge along the way.

And what would be the logical end point? Something EoTV-like? (maximum weird... like serial experiments Lain) Maximum dark (Q? Something like Devilman Crybaby?) or just "EoE with minor differences"? You'd have to dynamically follow it where it goes I guess...

Edit: Found it! Look how old it is: post/817403/From-Your-Lips-to-the-Authors-Ears-Story-Ideas/#817403

I'd say that it would require at least some pre-sachiel prep time to make it feel like Gendo & Yui are there before they disappear. Maybe they do SIRP-esque random activities meant to be training. Or you'd have some time when Shinji & friends do fun stuff in the foreground while not yet knowing much about what their parents are up to but Gendo & Yui are already busy preparing behind the scenes.

Maybe the story begins when Rei transfers like in ep 26 but it's the equivalent of Rei joining Touji's & Kensuke's class one year before.
Or there's a prologue where they're happy childhood friends but when they meet they're different, because trauma (or, in Rei's case, because the one they knew was Rei I; in any case Gendo & Yui introduce her as "distant cousin" but they most definitely cooked her up in a test tube )
I wanted to try harvesting the rice

I wanted to hold Tsubame more

I wanted to stay together forever with the boy I like

dzzthink
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Posts: 284
Joined: Aug 23, 2020
Gender: Male

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby dzzthink » Sat Dec 19, 2020 6:04 am

I appreciate that there could be some kind of high school story like this before some more emotional canon-related content, with at least some explanation of the tonal shift. I expect that the convention these days is to be unconventional, but characters should be consistent throughout and I don't see how Rei could go from happy to sad for no reason. An inevitability with the Eva story would be the tragedy of relationships that do not always retain the purity of better times (as we have seen in the lead up to EoE).
"Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive." - 1 Corinthians 10:23

Kendrix
Defender of Puppy Boy
Defender of Puppy Boy
User avatar
Age: 30
Posts: 6697
Joined: Jul 27, 2010
Location: Germany
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Kendrix » Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:15 pm

The plot would provode you with enough sensible justified reasons to have the tonal shift happen, I think:
"Sucks how our parents are all super busy these days, right?"
"What do you mean there was an accident during mom's experiment?"
[EVA 00 Berserk Roar]
[Sachiel stomping noises]

Though I admit that if you made Rei AS AU as in ep 26 it could get forced & easily lose consistency/ any appeal besides the exercise of getting it to match exactly. Not saying it couldn't be done but probably it would make more sense to start with a take like what you'd find in gakuen datenroku or various video games, probably cutesier and fluffier and more sociable than canon but still roughly 'introverted bookworm' shaped :chinscratch:

Consider also:
"But Asuka-chan we've been hanging out since we were kids now you're treating me like a rival just 'cause I joined the giant robot brigade, I don't even want to pilot a giant robot : ((( " - "Stop feeling sorry for yourself baka Shinji!"
"Everything has become terrible, but at least I still have you, Kaworu-kun, my bff through everything! its not like you're going to turn out to have been an angel all along waiting for your appointed time to descent into terminal dogma, right?" - "Yeah right..." [Kamera pans to suspicious X on calendar]
I wanted to try harvesting the rice

I wanted to hold Tsubame more

I wanted to stay together forever with the boy I like

amitakartok
Nerv Scientist
Nerv Scientist
User avatar
Age: 33
Posts: 1690
Joined: Jan 05, 2011
Location: The Ass End of Nowhere (TM)
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fanfic Story Ideas, Mk. II

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby amitakartok » Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:50 pm

View Original Postdzzthink wrote:I don't see how Rei could go from happy to sad for no reason.


I'm kinda handling that in a fairly imminent story arc in my ongoing fic, where Rei gets a clone whose personality is radically unlike the original's: while the original is cold, distant, liable to go into a berserk rage if someone she actually cares about is hurt and quick to threaten with lethal bodily harm if pressed on certain topics she doesn't want to talk about, the clone is kind but extremely shy and introverted, tending to hide behind Rei when faced with strangers and reply with gestures or monosyllables when addressed by a stranger.

It would eventually be explained as the clone's behavior being what Rei herself originally was like as a child; she turned into her current self due to having been adopted only out of guilt by Yui, who then proceeded to completely bury herself in her job without ever being there for Rei, causing Rei to develop severe trust and abandonment issues with a mentality that the entire world is out to just use her and discard her once they no longer need her. She was already casually murdering yakuza at the age of nine simply for getting in her way and would not hesitate for even a second to torture and kill anyone she considers deserving of it. Why? Because to paraphrase a fictional quote that sums up her mentality, "War is all I am. Killing is all I am good for. The rest is delusion."

She isn't apathetic to her purpose like in canon. She was created to be a destroyer, only to have it taken away from her and be discarded like a piece of trash, so she embraced that purpose anyway to give her life meaning. She doesn't want to be like this, she wants to create, not destroy, but she sees no way out and has a deep-seated fear that one day, she will wake up strapped to an operating table as a scalpel sinks into her flesh to take back what was gifted to her upon her creation and then toss her broken shell aside just like her nameless predecessors.

And it is this Rei whom Shinji gets to meet.
Strategic Cyborg Evangelion : an average author's aspiring attempt at awesomeness. Currently at chapter 42.

Mana, Mayumi and Sakura: the TRUE goddesses of Eva


Return to “Fanfiction”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests