The Holy Grail

[Lee Kyle]

The Holy Grail posted here: http://let-the-right-one-in.com/fancont ... both-kinds

Prequel to Let Me In and Let Me In 2. Abby and Constance enter Atlanta in 1887. Constance catches a vision of a better life, leading Abby to take up an impossible quest. "Two known nothings can produce an undefined something. That's what we will be. Abby divided by Constance: indeterminate."

The Holy Grail develops Abby's backstory, specifically her relationship with a schizophrenic named Constance. The initial meeting between Abby and Constance is shown in Let Me In 2 chapter 14. The Holy Grail picks up three days after the Abby-Constance events recounted in LMI2.

Differences in Abby's personality are intentional. The Holy Grail begins 96 years before Let Me In, and shows part of Abby's transformation into the withdrawn, despairing girl Owen eventually meets.

Part 1:Camelot is finished. Part 2:The Quest and Part 3:The Grail are a work in progress.

[gkmoberg1]

Excellent that you are going to post this story here! Abby's adventure with Constance was a valuable and intriguing part of LMI2 but left us Readers wanting more. And now we get it!

[gkmoberg1]

Part 1: Camelot
Chapter 1: Survival (Both Kinds)

This is a refreshing take on Abby! This Abby is alive (heh) with energy and spirit. Constance, whom we met briefly in LMI2, is a trip yet an excellent companion for her. I'm thrilled that you've taken on expanding this small story from LMI2. Constance is such an oddity that the glimpse in LMI2 gives us what's needed for that story yet leaves us Readers wanting to know more about this LMI2 backstory.

It's heartbreaking to know that this young, aspiring, energetic Abby will sink to the waif, lost in despair, found in LMI & LMI2. But that knowing adds a lot of energy - how will the tragedy within the tragedy what makes up Abby come about? Is this story even really that breaking point... there remains yet a considerable gap of years between the likely end of this adventure and when Abby will meet Owen or even Thomas.

[EEA]

Cool. I am also interested in learning about how Abby used to be and about her life with Constance.

[gkmoberg1]

I find two metaphors for Ch1. The first, the weaker one, is that of the vampire. Yes, duh, this is a story about a vampire, but look at the story from a larger sense. " The dead dust swirled within the car's empty confines" - the train freight car where this story begins is the coffin. Empty, Dead. Devoid. One vampire. But then the Chapter is how that vampire sets off, leaves the coffin, begins the journey.

The second metaphor is that of birth and baptism. Yes? Abby, Constance and Susie are given birth, naked, into the night. They have nothing with them - no toys, no clothing, no possessions. (Abby might have things stored elsewhere, but that is not mentioned.) The three are simply cast into motion, out of the freight car. And then, at the end, there is the baptism. All done in the odd redressing of the vampire experience, Abby is baptizing Constance. She's pouring water on her naked friend. The nakedness is about innocence, not sexuality. Their wet muddy bath at farmhouse well pump is symbolic of a new start, a new life. And that is what Abby is doing, right? She's escaped with Constance from the asylum and wants to rescue her. Yet, in their play Constance is also doing the same to her. Who is saving who? Or is it a two-way street? Unbalanced, yes, but present.

Also note the positioning: Abby is the caretaker for Constance. This is the opposite of LMI. There 'the father' is the caretaker of the vampire. However we know that Abby will need Constance to be her protector at times. The unbalanced two-way street. For now, though, it is Abby who is doling the leading, planning, saving.

[Lee Kyle]

This story began with my picturing Thomas hunched over in the kitchen before his final trip out. Such weariness in his body language, even though we're seeing him from behind. A weariness that has developed over decades of "caring" for Abby. I really wanted to imagine Abby in that role of caring for another. A role reversal that could (partly) account for her weariness.

Intriguing comments on the metaphors of chapter 1. Thanks as always for your thoughtfulness and insight.

[gkmoberg1]

LeeKyle lays out on a discussion thread in the Do You Like Me? forum - a 'Let Me In' fan site - his view and approach to fan fiction. As an entry-level fanfic writer I've read this a couple of times. Usually I get upset along the way as the points he makes start to pile up ( What... do I really need an editor? Yeh, right. ...(5 minutes later)... yeh, I do.) (The "Four Unpleasant Facts Few Writers Want to Admit" section was not, I admit, what I wanted to see in print, staring back at me. ) Yet, what he wrote has played a part in turning me on to trying to improve. I've been reading the bits by James Scott Bell, Mary Buckham and Brent Spencer, for example, as they provide assistance galore on how approach writing a winning story.

Anyway, I bring this up because as LK proceeds with writing this I'm keen to see how he pitches Abby and how he maintains our interest - as readers - in keeping up with this world he is creating for her. Thus it's a bit of a chance to see the lesson put to practice. As in: it is likely that LK will be writing this story in accordance to his expressed viewpoints on fan fiction.

We know the Abby from the movie. And then perhaps you agree with the presentation of the Abby that LK proceeds with in LMI2. Here, then, in this story we're getting a Prequel treatment for both LMI and LMI2, wherein we get to see yet more of this same viewpoint.

The first thing that jumps off the page of this story is the demeanor of this "younger" Abby. There's a lot of character given to Abby here that is, well, lost by the point in time when LMI occurs. Part of the interest, then, is seeing what might happen in the course of this story that might lead to Abby's sorrowful state in LMI. It hurts to know that this Abby will be - a century later - the wretched & withdrawn creature Owen encounters at the local jungle gym. Yet, it's hard to believe that a vampire kid could spend decades living in the state expressed by the Abby of LMI. Surely there have been peaks and valleys along the way to 1983. And hopefully 1983 is one of those valleys. By this metaphor, this story seems - thus far - to be more of a peak. This Abby is curious and daring. She's engaged with Constance and others around her. I've enjoyed being given this side of Abby to ponder, even though I know there has to be some cliff or other decline(s) up ahead in her timeline for her to arrive at the Abby in LMI.

[Lee Kyle]

Chapter 4 of The Holy Grail is now posted. http://let-the-right-one-in.com/fancont ... in-the-sun

Picking up Abby's backstory in 1887 means encountering her after she has been a vampire for over 100 years. So this younger Abby is still carrying a lot of baggage, and some of that comes out in these early chapters. One can see the war between her naturally cheerful, outgoing personality (boldly stolen from Chloe Moretz interviews) and the cruel, oppressive horror of her vampire experiences.

I admittedly milk the LMI world for every little hint I can get. Responds with obvious enthusiasm to Owen's Romeo and Juliet textbook? Abby was a riverboat actor on the Mississippi in the 1830's. Chloe Moretz says in an interview that Abby is 250 years old? Abby is an American patriot, with all the glories, passions, and prejudices that go along with it.

If it seems like there's a bit of info dumping here and there, it's only because I can't assume the reader already knows it. Familiarity with the Grail mythos (both Malory and Tennyson versions) is mandatory to understand this story, but most readers will not have read this material, so I have to present some of it early on so later stuff makes sense. What can I say? I'm an English teacher with a preference for British lit. It's going to come out in my writing. That's just the way it is.

[gkmoberg1]

Well, that's fair warning. Thanks! Guess I need to do some reading.