I actually hadn't read Retake until after I'd started Taking Sights. I learned about it via the TV Tropes wiki, which was the same place that lead my to the Peggy Sue article and back into fanfiction in general. Having read it, I'll agree that it hits a lot of the broad strokes as Taking Sights, but so do most Peggy Sue time travel stories: character 'X' gets a second chance, does things 'right' this time, and saves the world from NERV/SEELE/Third Impact.
I'm still undecided about doing that last one in Taking Sights, though. The big, shiny, super-happy ending I had planned in my original plot outline wouldn't fit the tone of the story. And a big part of me is leaning towards just having everyone die. If you look at my non-crack one-shots, I tend towards fairly dark or morally ambiguous endings. Taking Sights will probably conclude in such a vein.
But yeah... I've really lost focus in the 'mid-season' of Taking Sights. That's why I've adopted a policy of not post new, long-form fanfics until the whole thing's in the bank. It helps weed out the "really more of a one-shot than a long-form" fanfics (Color of Blood) and the "I love this idea but I don't have time for it" fanfics (Doctor Who and the Defence Against the Dark Arts).
That's why -- after I finish the 'Apple Peel-Off' two parter -- I'm going to do the rest of Taking Sights in two blocks: the rest of Book 1 (9 more chapters), and then -- after finishing a Harry Potter fanfic project -- all of Book 2 (which will only be 10 chapters). It'll help me a LOT with pacing, character roles, and plot holes. If I had been posting "Facing Fearful Odds" as I wrote it, I would have never discovered a major plot bunny in Chapter 4 that made me go back and rewrite a character's motivation in Chapter 2. Doing the whole fanfic as one big novel has helped me *immensely* with overall quality.
A big reason I switched to the side characters is that it's hard to maintain a lot of drama with Gendo outside of crisis situations. He's not a terribly talkative character, and he's isolated enough that Fuyutusuki's really the only person he can talk to, human being to human being. Asuka being extroverted is one reason why I used her so much to being with -- back before I realized she was the co-main character. I really abused her as a plot hammer in earlier chapters, and it's something I've tried to shy away from recently (emphasis on *tried*).
Heh. I just realized, Asuka really *did* replace Shinji as the main character. She's "friends" with Touji and Kensuke, while Shinji has his only close friendship with Hikari. Never noticed that until just now...
no subject
I'm still undecided about doing that last one in Taking Sights, though. The big, shiny, super-happy ending I had planned in my original plot outline wouldn't fit the tone of the story. And a big part of me is leaning towards just having everyone die. If you look at my non-crack one-shots, I tend towards fairly dark or morally ambiguous endings. Taking Sights will probably conclude in such a vein.
But yeah... I've really lost focus in the 'mid-season' of Taking Sights. That's why I've adopted a policy of not post new, long-form fanfics until the whole thing's in the bank. It helps weed out the "really more of a one-shot than a long-form" fanfics (Color of Blood) and the "I love this idea but I don't have time for it" fanfics (Doctor Who and the Defence Against the Dark Arts).
That's why -- after I finish the 'Apple Peel-Off' two parter -- I'm going to do the rest of Taking Sights in two blocks: the rest of Book 1 (9 more chapters), and then -- after finishing a Harry Potter fanfic project -- all of Book 2 (which will only be 10 chapters). It'll help me a LOT with pacing, character roles, and plot holes. If I had been posting "Facing Fearful Odds" as I wrote it, I would have never discovered a major plot bunny in Chapter 4 that made me go back and rewrite a character's motivation in Chapter 2. Doing the whole fanfic as one big novel has helped me *immensely* with overall quality.
A big reason I switched to the side characters is that it's hard to maintain a lot of drama with Gendo outside of crisis situations. He's not a terribly talkative character, and he's isolated enough that Fuyutusuki's really the only person he can talk to, human being to human being. Asuka being extroverted is one reason why I used her so much to being with -- back before I realized she was the co-main character. I really abused her as a plot hammer in earlier chapters, and it's something I've tried to shy away from recently (emphasis on *tried*).
Heh. I just realized, Asuka really *did* replace Shinji as the main character. She's "friends" with Touji and Kensuke, while Shinji has his only close friendship with Hikari. Never noticed that until just now...