In a way, I suppose it's appropriate to call these stories 'EVA Sessions,' because fan fiction is proving to be something of a nice, inexpensive therapy. Whenever you hit a wall, start a new story and see what happens.
Frankly, I've hit a wall in both my ficcing and personal lives (or more appropriately, personal professional life). I'm supposed be writing a 1,200 word review on an historical journal (of which I have a quarter completed), but despite putting two-weeks into it and having it due tomorrow, I just can't write the damned thing. I have no clue why. It's just not clicking. I'll have it completed in time, of this I know: spinning impressive fluff is something I have developed from many a late-night cram session. Pressure has it's own rewards. The point is, I can't write the damned thing when I want to. This leaves me feeling somewhat depressed.
And my other fics, which I love writing, have their valleys and plateaus. When I can write them, I write like a man possessed, and when I can't, I have to step back and leave them be. About the only one that I can cut into in a consistent manner is You Can (Not) Trust, due to having a marvelous beta-reader (Gemini011).
The bottom line is, I'm in a low point right now, and for some reason I can't take it out on the things I already have written. I can, however, start up a new fic, to try and let my brain ease up a bit and brush some of those cobwebs away.
Further, I want to apply some recent lessons on writing I've picked up, one from an excellent book and the other from a great discussion over at the EvaGeeks forums on the FanFic Recommendations page (the recent architect/gardener discussion, for those who participated or followed it).
The book is Stephen King's On Writing, which should be mandatory reading for anyone wanting to write, or anyone who just enjoys the craft of reading in general. It is a book written for book lovers by a book lover, and Mr. King's insights on story crafting are somehow both self-evident and monumental revelations at the same time.
As for the discussion, a few fanfic writers shared their experience and knowledge, and I really want to thank them for , I would like to thank the Grand Duke of Yashima and Muphrid for sharing their experience and knowledge (their posts on story-crafting are excellent little primers on story crafting) as well as Gregg Landsman (who kindly took the time to share his thoughts on Nobody Dies and the Rebuild: several of his posts also have good information on long-term story plotting and crafting).
In addition, I wanted to thank amitakartok for taking the time to look over my pitch for this story and offering his advice, as well as directing me to the excellent Adeptus Evangelion RPG. And introducing me to the concept of Eva football. Because, let's face it: doesn't that sound like the greatest thing ever?
Finally, even though I've never done this before, I should add that Neon Genesis Evangelion is not my work. Neither is Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse. The first few episodes or so provided an interesting setup in terms of a Cold War alien invasion, but I haven't been able to get into the rest of the series for many reasons. Also, I do not own Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, nor do I own the film Stalker and the video game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R., both based on Roadside Picnic. I mention this, because the Zone of Seclusion will be familiar to fans of any of the above works. It didn't start out that way (like them, I was thinking of Chernobyl, Long Island, and other disaster sites), but the parallels between what I was writing here and what these stories had became apparent to me. I don't know if the connection was unconscious, but there was one, so I had to mention it. This would be the first disclaimer I've written, and it would probably be a good habit to keep writing them.
Enough of that. You want fiction, right? So moving on...