Voices Alone

A forum for discussing fan fiction related to Let The Right One In
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Wolfchild
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Voices Alone

Post by Wolfchild » Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:55 am

I was going to try my hand at writing some fiction, but first I wanted to be sure that I understood the characters. For Oskar, I don't think it is that difficult; he wears his heart on sleeve and the only person who can't tell what he is thinking is his mom. :) For Eli this is another matter.

Eli doesn't say much and most of the time wears an impassive expression. The film almost never tells us what Eli is thinking at any given moment. So I thought it would be a good exercise to write an inner dialog for Eli in each of the scenes in the film where she is present. This would allow me to clarify for myself how I viewed the Eli character. Since the information provided in the film about Eli is pretty sparse, this dialog mostly represents my impressions of the character. I find that I am highly influenced by John Ajvide Lindqvist's comments from the two commentary tracks. I also find that my view of Eli's feelings towards Håkan are influenced by a comment that Tomas Alfredson made in an interview:
Love is the only thing that is a threat to Eli, so Håkan would be the only person she could be close to - that is, a person she despises.
This is all dialog - either the film's spoken dialog or Eli's inner dialog. There is no narrative.

It will be an on-going project and can be found here.
...the story derives a lot of its appeal from its sense of despair and a darkness in which the love of Eli and Oskar seems to shine with a strange and disturbing light.
-Lacenaire

Visit My LTROI fan page.

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drakkar
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by drakkar » Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:01 am

It really boils down to whether you want to interprete the charcaters from your own fixed place, or try to see them from JAL/TA's point of view as accurate as possible (which I have a tendency to do).
I think you are in your own right to choose.
In some of the discussions here, I feel we are interpreting the characters beyond JAL/TA. And so what.
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

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Aurora
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by Aurora » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:15 am

I agree that Eli is an enigma, there's so much that we don't know about her and that which we do know is either open to interpretation (the film) or limited (the book).

Good luck with your writing, I'm sure that it'll be enjoyable and frustrating in equal measures ;)
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by a_contemplative_life » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:44 pm

An accurate and unflinching description of inner workings of Eli's mind: the great No Man's Land of LTROI.

I've been waiting to read this for weeks and I'm excited to start! :D
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Wolfchild
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by Wolfchild » Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:23 pm

drakkar wrote:It really boils down to whether you want to interprete the charcaters from your own fixed place, or try to see them from JAL/TA's point of view as accurate as possible (which I have a tendency to do).
I think you are in your own right to choose.
In some of the discussions here, I feel we are interpreting the characters beyond JAL/TA. And so what.
Which way do you feel that I am going in my piece? Tomas left a lot of room to interpret Eli, and John did as well - at least in the script. I feel as though my impressions of the character are almost as heavily influenced by things that John has said as by anything that I saw in the film.

I have plans to make up one line of character dialog, but otherwise I want to stick explicitly within the bounds of what was shown to us on the screen. That still leaves a lot of room for debate, but I charge you with keeping me honest. ;)
...the story derives a lot of its appeal from its sense of despair and a darkness in which the love of Eli and Oskar seems to shine with a strange and disturbing light.
-Lacenaire

Visit My LTROI fan page.

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stormbringer951
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by stormbringer951 » Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:45 pm

The whole point with writing your own fiction is to write your own viewpoint! It's your own interpretation of the source material; that's the most interesting part of fanfiction - often it's not just the writing but seeing how the author has interpreted the characters.
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by a_contemplative_life » Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:18 pm

Wolfie's idea of Eli is much more predatory than mine, I think. I'll be interested to see if she can get her nose under control as grows more fond of Oskar . . . :)
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cmfireflies
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by cmfireflies » Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:00 am

Nice read wolfy!

I liked Eli's Gollum moment. You should put in more flimsy rationalizations on Eli's part. I can imagine Eli telling Lacke silently. I'm sorry, but at least you died doing a good deed or thank you, I hope you lived a good life, I just want the chance to have a life of my own...
"When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it."

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drakkar
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by drakkar » Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:16 pm

Wolfchild wrote: Which way do you feel that I am going in my piece? Tomas left a lot of room to interpret Eli, and John did as well - at least in the script. I feel as though my impressions of the character are almost as heavily influenced by things that John has said as by anything that I saw in the film.

I have plans to make up one line of character dialog, but otherwise I want to stick explicitly within the bounds of what was shown to us on the screen. That still leaves a lot of room for debate, but I charge you with keeping me honest. ;)
OK, but difficult to tell, because my view of JAL/TA's Eli is of course coloured by my view! ;)
If I should say something, I think your interpretation of Eli is a bit too much cynical and aggressive, and she is also a bit to fluttering in the shifting between "human Eli" and predator "vampire Eli". She is old in the business, so I feel she should have more relaxed self confidence about this. I agree she that the human Eli and vampire Eli can be struggling, but not quite that much. Vampire Eli is of course strong when hungry, but can be put into the background by e.g. curiosity or other impulses.

To elaoborate more on this, I'd like to go into the novel (and now I'm into JAL again...:)), where Eli nearly kills Oskar three times. What is Eli thinking in those events?
First time - at the third meeting, when Eli returns the cube - Oskar unwittingly stops the attack by patting her cheek, startling her. Eli seems to be sort of coming to herself, like the human Eli suddenly notices something (out of curiosity or importance) and subdues the vampire impulses.
Second time - at the candy store, Eli again hungry - she comes to herself and stops the attack without any external impulses. She steps back, startled, almost like she is afraid of herself and what she was about to do.
Last time - the blood mixing scene - Eli is able to restrain herself even when Oskar is literally tempting her with his blood.
She is mostly to some extent controlling and fighting the vampire personality inside her, and her deepened feelings for Oskar, and maybe practice, is making human Eli stronger when she is together with him.

When Eli's about to attack/feed she let vampire Eli take over. The three times in the film Eli is attacking/feeding, the attack starts with a cry, and she is acting like a pure predator. Look at the expression in her face when Lacke kicks her off Virginia, she is now is back to human Eli mode again, and actually have to think for a second or two to find out what the heck has just happened.

So to sum up: I like your fiction very much in viewing the events from Eli's point of view.
I also agree with the personality struggle going on in Eli, but I like it a bit and more relaxed with "longer lines" in the shifting between human Eli and predator Eli, and less "fluttering" or indecisive (she is little both all the time). But - my point of view. You're the writer. ;)
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

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Wolfchild
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Re: Voices Alone

Post by Wolfchild » Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:02 am

drakkar wrote:
Wolfchild wrote: Which way do you feel that I am going in my piece? Tomas left a lot of room to interpret Eli, and John did as well - at least in the script. I feel as though my impressions of the character are almost as heavily influenced by things that John has said as by anything that I saw in the film.

I have plans to make up one line of character dialog, but otherwise I want to stick explicitly within the bounds of what was shown to us on the screen. That still leaves a lot of room for debate, but I charge you with keeping me honest. ;)
OK, but difficult to tell, because my view of JAL/TA's Eli is of course coloured by my view! ;)
If I should say something, I think your interpretation of Eli is a bit too much cynical and aggressive, and she is also a bit to fluttering in the shifting between "human Eli" and predator "vampire Eli". She is old in the business, so I feel she should have more relaxed self confidence about this. I agree she that the human Eli and vampire Eli can be struggling, but not quite that much. Vampire Eli is of course strong when hungry, but can be put into the background by e.g. curiosity or other impulses.

<snip>

When Eli's about to attack/feed she let vampire Eli take over. The three times in the film Eli is attacking/feeding, the attack starts with a cry, and she is acting like a pure predator. Look at the expression in her face when Lacke kicks her off Virginia, she is now is back to human Eli mode again, and actually have to think for a second or two to find out what the heck has just happened.
I actually have already gotten something written for Virginia's attack and I think my view of it mirrors yours. And for the "three times in the film Eli is attacking/feeding, the attack starts with a cry", I agree except that I can think of four times when the film shows us this, and she is pretty calm when she feeds off Håkan. And I think a lot of people will like the view I take of that one. ;)
So to sum up: I like your fiction very much in viewing the events from Eli's point of view.
I also agree with the personality struggle going on in Eli, but I like it a bit and more relaxed with "longer lines" in the shifting between human Eli and predator Eli, and less "fluttering" or indecisive (she is little both all the time). But - my point of view. You're the writer. ;)
I find myself having the view that vampirism is a continuous burden on Eli. She is child struggling to retain her humanity despite also having inside her a wanton, canny predator ready to slip the leash at any time. I am trying to write in the voice of a twelve year old as I imagine the mind of a twelve year old to be. I want to portray the attention span and concentration powers of a twelve year old. Her predator aspect is always there ready to try to steer her towards its own goals. When her mind is not otherwise engaged, she accustomed to letting her mind flit around - like I see that of my own pre-teen daughter do all the time. :) This in my imagination is why she loves puzzles. Anything that she can become engaged in and concentrate on for long periods of time provide temporary means to shut the predator voice out.

I want to emphasize my view that in every waking moment she is engaged in this struggle. While she is grimly determined to achieve her conscious goal of staying alive no matter what, during the course of the film she starts using that same strength towards achieving another goal: retaining or perhaps rediscovering her humanity. This struggle is what I admire most about the Eli character, and I want to make it seem like it is as hard for her as I imagine it to be.

I suppose if I become a better writer (or a less awful writer) I will be able to do it with more finesse. 8-)
...the story derives a lot of its appeal from its sense of despair and a darkness in which the love of Eli and Oskar seems to shine with a strange and disturbing light.
-Lacenaire

Visit My LTROI fan page.

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