So as I mentioned in a previous post—and, as it turns out, as pre-production for This Is (not) The End—I've been re-reading Neon Exodus Evangelion, and something has struck me about it that I don't think I consciously realized or intended at the time I originally wrote (much of) it.

Namely: It has randomly occurred to me what a recurring theme neglect is in the lives and backgrounds of so many NGE characters, and that without really setting out to, or even consciously recognizing it until much later, that was the arc I gave DJ to change everyone's shit up.

The pro-from-Dover thing is mainly window dressing. His real Thing is that he blows into that situation and just... ​cares. Transforms most of the cast's lives and outcomes by just insisting on giving a shit about them. It's a theme running through the whole series, from the reason why he initially decides to stay right down through the end of the series; he even applies it midway through season 3 to characters he initially wrote off as hopelessly antagonistic assholes, at a time when he really doesn't have the personal reserves to take on a project of that magnitude. It's just... what he does. It's the hook that made NXE more than a one-joke one-off, not that everyone agreed it wasn't one. :)

A somewhat belated insight, I realize, but having had it, I figured I would share it, because hey! My website. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

In my opinion, the fact that you could recognize this unconsciously and create a character to exploit that flaw is the mark of a good writer.

The fact that you can see it now is evidence of improvement as a writer.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

Some interesting parallels there with how you write Utena.

-VR
Give me power to revolutionize the world! Or at least this NERV facility.
"They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."

And this is why NXE is so darn uplifting. You hit upon the central pain point of these characters and alleviated it, and made a tragic story uplifting and affirming. Finding a home and a family is a powerful narrative and it's what those characters needed to make them fly, and it's one of the things that makes NXE - and EPU works as a whole - really fun to read.

I think you have a better grasp of theme than you give yourself credit for :)