Let the Long Night End (Complete)

A forum for discussing fan fiction related to Let The Right One In
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SpartanAltego
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by SpartanAltego » Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:31 am

dongregg wrote:
Sun Jan 07, 2018 2:11 am
Any place you're comfortable with. The reason I kept them in Sweden so long is because I wanted to know more. After two or three years on Wikipedia, Google Maps, and a lot of Swedish sites (including chatty blogs), I feel very comfortable there. Now they are on their way to Barcelona, with a short stay over in Paris, I'm at the start of another steep learning curve. Fortunately I know a little French and Spanish. Until the film, I knew no Swedish and next to nothing about Scandinavia.

I need to send you a spreadsheet of the film words -- Swedish and English subs, with the English subs redone to serve any fan wishing to learn the Swedish that we hear in the film. You can send me your e-mail address in a PM.

But as you will find in the many fan fictions, any place that you are comfortable with will work for the little vampires.

Edit P.S.: I am having a fine birthday! I'll take Part III as a special treat anytime you are ready to share it with us. :D
'If the fires of your imagination burn low, collect embers from the furnaces of the successful.'

That's a quote I just made up, because what the heck. The best U.S. set fan story I've read apart from "Let Me In 2" was "The Hunters" by a_contemplative_life. It's set in Virginia, which is frankly perfect because it has a more open locale than the city-scape of Detroit, and I've actually been to Virginia as well as having friends who live there. It'll take a little editing work to go back and adjust the previous chapters to reflect the setting change, but I think it's to the story's benefit that I had this momentary frustration now instead of several chapters down the line.

A little worried, though. Interest seems to have died down a little, I wonder if it has to do with any flaws in the story presentation or the characters thus far? Hm.
"The dark is patient, and it always wins. But its weakness lies in its strength: a single candle is enough to hold it at bay. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." - Matthew Stover

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ltroifanatic
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by ltroifanatic » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:02 am

Not mine Spartan.Intrigued by your mix of predators.I can't wait till they meet each other.It's best to write about a locale that you feel comfortable with.My few attempts at FF (none good enough to submit) were always hampered by my lack of knowledge of Sweden.I tried to place them in Australia but it'd didn't work (too hot,too sparcely populated and far too much sun.)So please continue with your excellent story. :D :D
Please Oskar.Be me for a little while.

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dongregg
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by dongregg » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:10 am

SpartanAltego wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:31 am
'If the fires of your imagination burn low, collect embers from the furnaces of the successful.'

That's a quote I just made up, because what the heck. The best U.S. set fan story I've read apart from "Let Me In 2" was "The Hunters" by a_contemplative_life. It's set in Virginia, which is frankly perfect because it has a more open locale than the city-scape of Detroit, and I've actually been to Virginia as well as having friends who live there. It'll take a little editing work to go back and adjust the previous chapters to reflect the setting change, but I think it's to the story's benefit that I had this momentary frustration now instead of several chapters down the line.

A little worried, though. Interest seems to have died down a little, I wonder if it has to do with any flaws in the story presentation or the characters thus far? Hm.
Your excellent writing and willingness to improve your exciting story will keep us coming back for more. Keep up the great effort!
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”

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SpartanAltego
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by SpartanAltego » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:34 am

dongregg wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:10 am
Your excellent writing and willingness to improve your exciting story will keep us coming back for more. Keep up the great effort!
Will do. I've went through and edited Part I and II to reflect the changes in setting as well as tuning up some parts I noticed were a little too stiff or unclear. I also added some new chapter/perspective formatting that I first tested in Part III's drafts. Part I's is posted on the fancontent sub-forum, and I'll get Part II's revised edition up sometime tomorrow - it's kind of a chore running through re-adding adding all the spacing and HTML tags, sadly.

You'll find, too, that the setting date has been returned to 1982 again - this is because of my recent examination of Oskar's arc, his coming encounter with Eli, and my desire to focus a little more on how tough it is for Oskar to deal with the hibernation cycle. Therefore, these early chapters are now set during Eli's first hibernation with Oskar rather than his second as previous drafts indicated, and I've changed the starting date of the story from New Year's Day to Midsummer's Day instead (it's apparently quite the important holiday in Sweden, so it makes sense that Oskar would celebrate it even in a different country). Detroit is mentioned in passing as a place Oskar and Eli briefly stayed after crossing the border from Canada, but the setting is now firmly in 1982 West Virginia.

Part III ought to come much easier from here on. Fingers crossed. :)
"The dark is patient, and it always wins. But its weakness lies in its strength: a single candle is enough to hold it at bay. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." - Matthew Stover

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sauvin
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by sauvin » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:18 am

Maybe should have left them in Detroit. Plenty for Eli to eat there.
Fais tomber les barrières entre nous qui sommes tous des frères

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SpartanAltego
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by SpartanAltego » Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:52 pm

Part II has been updated with the new setting, style, and also polished a little more. I think both entries work far better now. If I'm really in the swing of things, Part III will be up for moderator review before the weekend.
sauvin wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:18 am
Maybe should have left them in Detroit. Plenty for Eli to eat there.
Heya, sauvin. I did consider leaving them there for a while and just reconsidering the beats of the story I wanted to tell for future entries, but ultimately I decided to move them out to Virginia. A city like Detroit, especially in the 1980s, would be fantastic hunting ground for Eli (so much so that I still left a reference to it in Part I), but ultimately it's not practical for very long when Oskar is still young and they are avoiding obtaining a Reinfeld. There's too little room for quickly ambushing and feeding without being spotted, hiding the bodies would be troublesome, and eventually someone would get in arms about finding corpses every other week with their heads nearly twisted off.

Out in Virginia, 'accidents' can happen in the wilderness. Bodies buried or made to look like animal attacks. There are better places for Oskar and Eli to hide in a pinch, and better locations for Eli to hibernate. Plus, it makes Levi's trips to the well a little more plausible and accessible (and Oskar's visits).
"The dark is patient, and it always wins. But its weakness lies in its strength: a single candle is enough to hold it at bay. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." - Matthew Stover

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metoo
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by metoo » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:46 pm

As a writer of fan fiction, I have contemplated this issue. Where would we most likely find Oskar and Eli - in a dense city or in a remote and sparsely populated place?

I tend to favour the dense city. While the risk of discovery might be higher there, because of all the people, the availability of candidate victims is higher as well.

Rural, sparsely populated regions tend to be socially well knit together. If someone goes missing, it will get noticed. If several people dissappear in an area in a relatively short period of time, people will become suspicious and watchful. Therefore, O&E would have to be continually - and literally - on the run, to make sufficient distance between attacks.

Dense cities, on the other hand, tend to have large populations of people who have moved there, and who are not very well connected to other inhabitants. Especially so among the unfortunate who have dropped out and live on the streets. If a few of these disappears, it might not be noticed at all.

Now, it may seem that the disposal of bodies would be easier in a rural setting. But this requires that people there often walk around alone in desolate places. Do they? Is that typical rural behaviour? I’m sceptic. I think rural people spend most of their time in their homes or at work, like most of us do. Digging a grave near such a place wouldn’t hide the deed very well. Fire would work, but not too often.

So, hiding a body in a rural setting might not be that easy, after all. But what about the city? Well, to find a place in a city where a newly dug grave would go unnoticed wouldn’t be easy, to say the least. Perhaps in a churchyard, but... Anyway, burying might work occasionally, but wouldn’t be a reliable method of covering up. Fire would work as well, but, again, not too often. However, to raise the level of morbidity yet a little more, I might have a solution: the sewers. There are rats there, plenty of them...
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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SpartanAltego
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by SpartanAltego » Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:48 pm

metoo wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:46 pm
As a writer of fan fiction, I have contemplated this issue. Where would we most likely find Oskar and Eli - in a dense city or in a remote and sparsely populated place?

I tend to favour the dense city. While the risk of discovery might be higher there, because of all the people, the availability of candidate victims is higher as well.

Rural, sparsely populated regions tend to be socially well knit together. If someone goes missing, it will get noticed. If several people dissappear in an area in a relatively short period of time, people will become suspicious and watchful. Therefore, O&E would have to be continually - and literally - on the run, to make sufficient distance between attacks.

Dense cities, on the other hand, tend to have large populations of people who have moved there, and who are not very well connected to other inhabitants. Especially so among the unfortunate who have dropped out and live on the streets. If a few of these disappears, it might not be noticed at all.

Now, it may seem that the disposal of bodies would be easier in a rural setting. But this requires that people there often walk around alone in desolate places. Do they? Is that typical rural behaviour? I’m sceptic. I think rural people spend most of their time in their homes or at work, like most of us do. Digging a grave near such a place wouldn’t hide the deed very well. Fire would work, but not too often.

So, hiding a body in a rural setting might not be that easy, after all. But what about the city? Well, to find a place in a city where a newly dug grave would go unnoticed wouldn’t be easy, to say the least. Perhaps in a churchyard, but... Anyway, burying might work occasionally, but wouldn’t be a reliable method of covering up. Fire would work as well, but, again, not too often. However, to raise the level of morbidity yet a little more, I might have a solution: the sewers. There are rats there, plenty of them...
All good points, and it makes me a little relieved that I already have a bit of a plot in mind for how Eli manages to stay under the radar in Virginia whilst still being fed. Hints are in one of the Parts in particular, but there's no fun in saying which one.

That said, living in a rural region doesn't necessarily confine one to only work or home. People enjoy their space, but they also enjoy wandering that space - and hunting season in winter time is excellent opportunity for Eli to ambush and feed in the wilderness without raising undue suspicion. After all, who looks twice at a sad but understandable rash of hunters falling prey to the wilds? It's not an air-tight justification, but it serves as a good enough rationale for me to keep the action in Waynesboro and the nearby territories even discounting the aforementioned "under the radar" scheme I have in mind.

But on the subject of body disposal in general, it's actually a little hard to imagine Eli going through with the process of hiding a body in any but the most crude ways (fire, for instance). He has the fortitude to do what he must to live using the tools of his vampiric affliction, but once that urgent need is gone the most he can seem to do is just ensure the victim doesn't rise. Heck, it'd be more efficient to simply use a knife or other implement to hide the true causes of death and exsanguination rather than the bear-hug method. Perhaps Eli doesn't want to get used to that kind of work, which is one perk of using proxies to secure blood for him.

I had some other ideas as well before settling on my particular choice: for instance, as you mention, a churchyard. Graves are pre-dug in many areas days in advance of a funeral, so nobody would look twice at seeing someone working late at night digging one up. Eli could dig further down into the grave, bury the body beneath the initial layer of dirt, and then the next day or day after it's properly hidden by a casket and gravestone. Economy-class graves for the dead. It was discarded in favor of an alternative approach, but I might save it for a special occasion later on in the story.
"The dark is patient, and it always wins. But its weakness lies in its strength: a single candle is enough to hold it at bay. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." - Matthew Stover

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dongregg
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by dongregg » Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:49 pm

metoo wrote:
Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:46 pm
As a writer of fan fiction, I have contemplated this issue. Where would we most likely find Oskar and Eli - in a dense city or in a remote and sparsely populated place?

I tend to favour the dense city. While the risk of discovery might be higher there, because of all the people, the availability of candidate victims is higher as well.

Rural, sparsely populated regions tend to be socially well knit together. If someone goes missing, it will get noticed. If several people dissappear in an area in a relatively short period of time, people will become suspicious and watchful. Therefore, O&E would have to be continually - and literally - on the run, to make sufficient distance between attacks.

Dense cities, on the other hand, tend to have large populations of people who have moved there, and who are not very well connected to other inhabitants. Especially so among the unfortunate who have dropped out and live on the streets. If a few of these disappears, it might not be noticed at all.

Now, it may seem that the disposal of bodies would be easier in a rural setting. But this requires that people there often walk around alone in desolate places. Do they? Is that typical rural behaviour? I’m sceptic. I think rural people spend most of their time in their homes or at work, like most of us do. Digging a grave near such a place wouldn’t hide the deed very well. Fire would work, but not too often.

So, hiding a body in a rural setting might not be that easy, after all. But what about the city? Well, to find a place in a city where a newly dug grave would go unnoticed wouldn’t be easy, to say the least. Perhaps in a churchyard, but... Anyway, burying might work occasionally, but wouldn’t be a reliable method of covering up. Fire would work as well, but, again, not too often. However, to raise the level of morbidity yet a little more, I might have a solution: the sewers. There are rats there, plenty of them...
Fan fiction writers have put the kids all over the place. They do well (or not) in whatever hunting ground they're placed in. And sometimes they are on the run from one environment to the next. We seem to be contrasting city and rural in this post. Rural suggests a small community. But there's the forest, too, wherein Eli thrived for two centuries. Or in woods near towns. I draw these inferences based on how naïve Eli seemed to be in the film -- not knowing that people celebrate birthdays, not dressing appropriately to fit in.

I used the idea of hiding bodies in cemeteries in fresh graves, too (in Set Me As a Seal). And in crypts in mausoleums alongside the dusty occupants. Ooh and in a quarry. I also raised the idea of burials at sea, but they are too young to own a boat and to be licensed to operate it in the Öresund at night. Or are they? Do you know?
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”

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ltroifanatic
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Re: Let the Long Night End

Post by ltroifanatic » Tue Jan 09, 2018 5:00 am

Body disposal hmm :think: Maybe they buy a pig farm?..Apparently pigs will eat anything bones and all.They were favoured by the mafia to get rid of bodies.My friend the pig farmer freaks out when he gets dizzy or feels faint and gets away from them quick smart.Hey if you can't trust a pig farmer who can you trust?.. :lol: He told me that if you ever get stuck for conversation tell a pig story because everyone has a pig story..I've tried it and he maybe on to something. :lol: The kids would have fun playing games like "Piggy in your middle" and "The Three little Pigs" would never be the same again. :D :D
Please Oskar.Be me for a little while.

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