FanFiction Requests/Recommendations/Discussion etc.

[LegionWrex]

Well, okay, on the topic of much-maligned and often-awful fanfiction tropes, how about self-inserts?

My opinion on self inserts can be summed up in one emoticon:

I hate self inserts. I'm sorry, I truly do. In my experiences, their only purpose serves to have the author get together with their favourite character.

So yeah. Not to fond of them.

[Stillborn]

You want something really horrible from recent fics? Check out "State of Mercy" that appeared recently on FF.net in Eva section.

My jaw just dropped. I have no words to describe this any other ay than: why?

I guess that Shinji is still repenting for his "lamest protagonist ever" image forever ingrained in this character, but Asuka... i don't even... How...

o_O

Characterization, we will miss you. Rest in peace.

[Asukaner117]

You want something really horrible from recent fics? Check out "State of Mercy" that appeared recently on FF.net in Eva section.

My jaw just dropped. I have no words to describe this any other ay than: why?

I guess that Shinji is still repenting for his "lamest protagonist ever" image forever ingrained to this character, but Asuka... i don't even... How...

o_O

Characterization, we will miss you. Rest in peace.

Sounds like a gem, will check out later

[Agentomega]

I hate self inserts. I'm sorry, I truly do. In my experiences, their only purpose serves to have the author get together with their favourite character.

You should try looking for a deconstruction of the genre, because you've just described Mary Sues. That is to say, there are some pretty well done fics in which the character has favorites but is much more busy trying not to die. My personal favorites are The Tennant of Room 404 and the Sleeping With the Girls series, though there's also The Game of the Gods which very humorously pits Mary Sues against reality and thwarts them by one basic principle or another. (Note: only TToR404 is Eva-based, the other two are mega-crossovers and Lord of the Rings, respectively)

Sure, Self-Inserts generally are not good because of the idealism, but the remaining 10% is worth dying for.

[LegionWrex]

You want something really horrible from recent fics? Check out "State of Mercy" that appeared recently on FF.net in Eva section.

Oh...my...god...

Read 1 chapter. I now wanna gauge my eyes out with a spoon.

Please excuse me while I now hit my head across the keyboard.

[Asukaner117]

Oh boy, i completely lost it at the Delorion That's just so strange

[Gob Hobblin]

I glanced at the summary and didn't even click when I saw 'Character/OC.' That made me suspicious. I read the first passage up to the break, and I was squinting the whole time. I shouldn't judge, but I'm judging. I'm judging so hard right now.

Above it is Cosmonaut, though, and I think I might read through that again. I don't know who recommended it the first time (I know it was...I'm pretty sure it was), but Cosmonaut needs more recs. It's very short, but beautifully written and very-well paced.

UPDATE: Holy crap, why did the author rate State of Mercy T? This is not T.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Why did this story happen? Why did no one stop this?

[Chuckman]

Baby chute.

That's a new one.

[amitakartok]

Anyone knows if there's a way to display ASCII art in a post? Or should I just take a screenshot? I've drafted a (quite screwed-up) family tree for a story of mine and want to ask around for potential problems with plausibility.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Don't the code tags have monospace? That should make it work.

[Lavinius]

You want something really horrible from recent fics? Check out "State of Mercy" that appeared recently on FF.net in Eva section.

My jaw just dropped. I have no words to describe this any other ay than: why?

I guess that Shinji is still repenting for his "lamest protagonist ever" image forever ingrained in this character, but Asuka... i don't even... How...

o_O

Characterization, we will miss you. Rest in peace.

That was awful. Disgusting. Not amusingly horrid, but embarassingly horrid. Also painful. Maybe even more painful than Nazi stories (no not really).
Well at least I see that when I do write my Eva fanfic, it will definitely be top of the class.
Also mandatory what the fuck did that bastard do to my Asuka!?

[Gob Hobblin]

^

That wasn't Asuka. I don't know who that was, but it wasn't Asuka.

[Bagheera]

Above it is Cosmonaut, though, and I think I might read through that again. I don't know who recommended it the first time (I know it was...I'm pretty sure it was), but Cosmonaut needs more recs. It's very short, but beautifully written and very-well paced.

Writing, tone, and theme are all top-notch, but it just seems . . . off, somehow. I guess it's because, when all is said and done, nothing's really happened. Everything's the same as it was before, no one's had any real character growth or change, life's just sort of meandering on. It's like the author's done a brilliant job of setting the stage only to give us a play that never really goes anywhere.

That said, I'd much rather be contemplating Cosmonaut than even glancing at State of Mercy. That makes me ask "Why did you do this?" for an entirely different reason.

[Gob Hobblin]

^

It is fun to dissect, though. It has a grand, terrifying sense of discomfort that almost reaches levels of high art. You have to stop and ask yourself, "Was this deliberate? Was this the feeling the author was trying to evoke?" It's not "The Room" of Eva fics, but it feels like it wants to be.

Moving on....

The Cosmonaut does have that abruptness, you are right. In context of the story, I kind of liked it: it wasn't really so much about character growth as saying, "Here are these characters. This is what they have come to." It was interesting seeing this take on a post-Eva world. I would have liked to see it stretched out a bit more, but I don't know where that would have gone or how: it served well as a short-story.

Out of curiosity, where do you think it should have gone from there? (not a challenge, a genuine question...I like to see what everybody else gets out of good fics.)

[Bagheera]

The Cosmonaut does have that abruptness, you are right. In context of the story, I kind of liked it: it wasn't really so much about character growth as saying, "Here are these characters. This is what they have come to." It was interesting seeing this take on a post-Eva world. I would have liked to see it stretched out a bit more, but I don't know where that would have gone or how: it served well as a short-story.

That was my gripe, really; we get a sort of "where are they now" vibe from the supporting cast, but nothing ever comes of it. Meanwhile the focus is on Rei, which is fine, but nothing happens with her. She's at the same place, mentally and physically, that she was when the story started.

Out of curiosity, where do you think it should have gone from there? (not a challenge, a genuine question...I like to see what everybody else gets out of good fics.)

I think it would have worked better if this was a sub-thread in a larger story. It also would have been nice if the episode with Gendo was transformative somehow; if Rei begins to see her role and purpose differently, if it somehow forges a connection between her and Shinji, something.

On a side note, there were some things in there that confused me. When Rei asks if Shinji and Asuka are . . . dating? together? whatever . . . Shinji says "no", but after the episode with Gendo he exits the building and basically falls into Asuka's arms. That doesn't seem like a "no" to me. ;) Also, I'm confused as to why anything with the cosmonaut was included; it doesn't seem to shape the story thematically at all.

And on another side note, I really liked his handling of Asuka.

[Gob Hobblin]

I liked Asuka in this, too. I think, however, that Shinji saying 'no' and his obvious connection to Asuka was deliberate. It implied that he was lying to Rei about his relationship with Asuka, probably because he was uncertain how she would take it. It was clear that Rei saw something between the two of them and felt a sharp emotion at that. I think Shinji was skirting the issue (still running...).

Also, with Rei not changing...I think that's the point. It's even pointed out by Rei: this girl has lived for thirty years or so, but physically she hasn't changed. Mentally and emotionally, she is still very distant. She has no way of connecting to the world around her, and her only real link to herself is the Commander: his dementia almost makes him a pacified, safe link to the past (whereas all the other Pilots have grown up and moved on, more or less...some more than others). She's isolated and she knows it, and is unable or unwilling to break it.

I agree that there wasn't much in there to link Rei to the cosmonaut, though the tone of the story certainly sets up a lot of links. That was needed, though: more to show us that link.

[Bagheera]

Yeah. I feel like it's skirting around the edges of a great story but never quite makes it there.

[ElMariachi]

I also took Shinji saying that he and Asuka weren't together as a lie to don't hurt Rei, because except Gendo, he's her last regular connection with the rest of the world thanks to his weekly visits(and it's obvious hes doing it more for Rei's sake than his father's), and she clearly feels a very deep bond toward him.

But she seems to have realized that they will never be "like that" when she noticed his graying hair and beard(time is less forgiving for him than it was for Gendo : even at 49 he still didn't had a single gray hair, Shinji is 44 it's already 50/50 in the beard! )

As for why nothing seems to had changed, the end of chapter 2 imply that part of why she keep taking care of Gendo is because he's the only source of information about her, about what she is, why she doesn't age, why she has these visions... that she had any hope of getting the truth from : Shinji and Asuka only talk about these things between themselves(another hint of their true relationship), and Misato and Ritsuko refuse to tell anything.
So she keep Gendo around, hoping that during one of his lucid moments he'll accept to reveal her the truth.
That's why once he finally did, she entertained the idea to finally get rid of him, to symbolically break that chain to her pre-3I life(the fact he was a huge dick while telling her the truth must have helped!)
Even Shinji asks her in the epilogue why does she cares for him(and take in account that she revealed to him that she almost killed him, why... and he completely understood her motivations!), and I interpreted her answer "because I can choose to" as her wanting to prove to Gendo(and herself) that she's not the monster he pretends she is, that even if she had all the reasons to just abandon him like he abandoned his son forty years ago(and said son would even agreed with her!), she'll do the human thing and continue to take care of him until his last breath. Also, maybe she still cares for him from the time when he was the only important person in her life.

After all, she have all the time in the world...

[Stillborn]

That was awful. Disgusting. Not amusingly horrid, but embarassingly horrid. Also painful. Maybe even more painful than Nazi stories (no not really).
Well at least I see that when I do write my Eva fanfic, it will definitely be top of the class.
Also mandatory what the fuck did that bastard do to my Asuka!?

Well... There is always an unforgetable scene, where Asuka and her OC boyfriend talk about each others "private parts" and Shinji faps to that in entry plug, during synchronization test. And everyone knows it.

Oh the wonderfull effects of legacy that Anno left him...

[ElMariachi]

^


What.