Let the Long Night End (Complete)

[gkmoberg1]

So kudos to start with:
The way you have developed this set of characters, including those farther to the outside, such as Carmen, really sits well. Each has their own feel, grit and shine. Let's take Carmen, since I just mentioned her. She -like the others- comes across very consistently to the characterizations you've given us. Her kindness is sweet - which is almost and island in this story huh? - and goes well with Abby's demure mien. What you have done, for each it is similar. Not the sweetness -hah- but the consistency.

Also loving the entwined themes of religion, hope and family. The scene on the bluff with the boys + Milton really pulls together this yearning and success of togetherness and of family. Just terrific.

[SpartanAltego]

Comments on part X:

Thanks, metoo. The language transitions in this tale (and a lot of the character nuances) wouldn’t be the same without your guidance.

Just finished chapter 10.Love how the story is going.

Any parts that stood out in particular? I always like to know what really works for my fans.

Awfully quiet.

Well, let's get a party going then! Happy birthday Spartan!! (I figure I gotta be within 2 weeks of being on time)

I finished ChX with the same stunned feel that Damien likely had... oh my oh my what has he found out. This could have dire results in a very short while.

Stunning good story. Gotta to back and see if some of the progressions work right. I had a pair oh "how did he know that?" + "how did she know that?" moments. But WOW what a ride.

You’re close! It’s next Thursday - big 21.

Glad to have you back GK. You’re quite right in that some nasty consequences are coming our way, for each of our protagonists. There’s a reason that the next chapter (our penultimate entry!) is titled “The Boogie Man.” And it ain’t for dancin’...

[gkmoberg1]

Waiter, oh waiter! Yes, I'd like to order up a moment's use of Mr Peabody's WABAC time machine. And a cup of Earl Gray Tea. See, I need to zip back to Ch9 and touch upon two things there. What, that's okay? Terrific. Just add it to my bill. Thanks.

This is the system, Milton reminds himself. Like Levi’s well. This is how we live without death. You’re doing the right thing.

This portal into Milton's thoughts is huge. Monumental. There is justification here for Milton's actions. For us Readers, this regrounds us in this character. And this is truly character, in terms of what is characterization and what is character. [Characterization: physical elements, actions, reasons, role. Character: At the core, what decisions does he make under pressure.]

Milton is playing cards with his God and with the devil. This is tough game for a mortal. As a man of the cloth he is father to his congregation. As the surviving brother, he is surrogate father to his nephew. Playing the role between the two involves a quiet lie of omission (oh, say, about my nephew...). But this becomes complicated. He has taken in, as he now understands, two illegal aliens & unattended minors, and as a trump card in the wrong suit, he's been handed the vampire. Now his lies come to include the simpler deception that this younger nephew and niece are proper wards he taken in but also the lie of omissions about the one (oh, say, about my niece...). He's further complicated this by playing the congregation into feeding the vampire - a source that he knows will eventually run dry. As a Reader we ask *why would he be doing this?* This simple insert gives us that answer. He sees this as a burden he has come to bear; he is performing the role of father to both family and congregation despite the likely ruin. To preserve the present into the future without death and suffering, this is a path he will take. Wow, this is loaded.

Damien: "But while I’m there, I see what I can see, look through his drawers, get a better picture of him as a person. Maybe find out what he’s doing with the blood."

I think Damien would have gone a bit farther as yet to work on the later part. For example, following Milton on any given Sunday would reveal he does not leave the church with the blood parcels. He returns much later in the day and exits, oddly enough, with his niece. But again without the blood parcels. If Damien were to, say, accidentally find his way into the church and poke about, he would find nothing. And, what again would be extremely odd, is the blood would be missing. Entirely. The bags would no longer be in the container. Further poking about would verify the pints were gone - both the contents and the bags. Yet everyone (congregation, Milton, niece) exiting the church throughout the day could be reviewed to not be carrying away the blood units.

Thus, in addition to his being able to verify Milton is _not_ delivering any donations to the local RedCross or hospitals, the units never leave the church yet are simply not present.

[SpartanAltego]

Waiter, oh waiter! Yes, I'd like to order up a moment's use of Mr Peabody's WABAC time machine. And a cup of Earl Gray Tea. See, I need to zip back to Ch9 and touch upon two things there. What, that's okay? Terrific. Just add it to my bill. Thanks.

This is the system, Milton reminds himself. Like Levi’s well. This is how we live without death. You’re doing the right thing.

This portal into Milton's thoughts is huge. Monumental. There is justification here for Milton's actions. For us Readers, this regrounds us in this character. And this is truly character, in terms of what is characterization and what is character. [Characterization: physical elements, actions, reasons, role. Character: At the core, what decisions does he make under pressure.]

Milton is playing cards with his God and with the devil. This is tough game for a mortal. As a man of the cloth he is father to his congregation. As the surviving brother, he is surrogate father to his nephew. Playing the role between the two involves a quiet lie of omission (oh, say, about my nephew...). But this becomes complicated. He has taken in, as he now understands, two illegal aliens & unattended minors, and as a trump card in the wrong suit, he's been handed the vampire. Now his lies come to include the simpler deception that this younger nephew and niece are proper wards he taken in but also the lie of omissions about the one (oh, say, about my niece...). He's further complicated this by playing the congregation into feeding the vampire - a source that he knows will eventually run dry. As a Reader we ask *why would he be doing this?* This simple insert gives us that answer. He sees this as a burden he has come to bear; he is performing the role of father to both family and congregation despite the likely ruin. To preserve the present into the future without death and suffering, this is a path he will take. Wow, this is loaded.

Damien: "But while I’m there, I see what I can see, look through his drawers, get a better picture of him as a person. Maybe find out what he’s doing with the blood."

I think Damien would have gone a bit farther as yet to work on the later part. For example, following Milton on any given Sunday would reveal he does not leave the church with the blood parcels. He returns much later in the day and exits, oddly enough, with his niece. But again without the blood parcels. If Damien were to, say, accidentally find his way into the church and poke about, he would find nothing. And, what again would be extremely odd, is the blood would be missing. Entirely. The bags would no longer be in the container. Further poking about would verify the pints were gone - both the contents and the bags. Yet everyone (congregation, Milton, niece) exiting the church throughout the day could be reviewed to not be carrying away the blood units.

Thus, in addition to his being able to verify Milton is _not_ delivering any donations to the local RedCross or hospitals, the units never leave the church yet are simply not present.

GK, I’ve missed your feedback, readings, and analysis so dearly. And your shameless flattery (“Sir Arthur Conan Spartan”). It couldn’t have come at a better time to help pick me up emotionally, too. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The struggles of Milton reflect, in my eyes, the struggles faced by imagined and written renditions of an adult Oskar who remains un-infected and this subject to the wizened fingers of time and maturity. As a child, questions of ethics such as the ones faced by our beleaguered pastor are simply too high in the clouds to really grasp - much less answer. For Oskar, his sense of compassion for others and by extension his moral framework can be bent more easily than most because of his youth and circumstances. Only someone with the eyes of a child could so easily and freely give themselves to a life implicitly built on the blood of others even with the rationale that Elias “has” to do what he does. But that defense is based on a youth that is rapidly slipping away from him, with the only other recourse being to stop that process through vampirism and thereby sealing himself forever into that cycle of night and blood. Which, in the novel, is exactly what happens. Oskar never grows up to have to face the very adult questions and guilt that Milton faces.

When I started writing this story I knew that I wanted a character whose viewpoint could express these considerations of morality, responsibility, and emotional obligation in a reasonably concise and nuanced manner. But I didn’t want to tread the precise same path as other authors where the deciding factor for caretaker alligence is an affection or pity for Eli which ultimately overrides other concerns. For a child, love can indeed triumph conclusively over reason. As an adult I feel that the transition is more difficult and often recursive - it can’t be that simple.

Milton’s protectionism and relationship with Oskar and Elias, thus, needed multiple justifications to support his actions. I wanted to write someone who could be seen as “good” despite his helping of wanted fugitives and a mass murderer - so he had to be the kind of man to look at his options and reasonably decide that containing Elias and securing blood peacefully if possible was the more “moral” of the evils he could choose. But that’s a motive that would come after some thought: when he learns Elias has murdered his neighbor he is in little position to be thinking with calm. This is the point where most people would call the police or at least tell O&E to get the hell out. Why doesn’t Milton do this? The previous chapters to this sequence show it is because he has grown fond of and sympathetic to Oskar because of the boy’s positive effect on Levi, so he is somewhat reluctant to remove that support mechanism so soon after his nephew’s attempted suicide. But wouldn’t righteousness triumph even over that? Surely the police could handle Elias’ needs far better than himself.

But he can’t - because doing so would bring undue exposure to his household, to his housing of two illegal immigrants, and most importantly endanger Levi who absolutely cannot be exposed to outside authorities lest he be taken away and potentially harmed. So his hands are firstly tied, then later he comes up with a rationale to loosen the tightness of those bindings. Even still, Milton is, I feel, unique among caretaker archetypes in that his feelings toward Elias are best described as wary and neutral despite his assistance. He’s not in love with the kid, nor does he expect an external reward for his efforts. He’s just doing what he can to protect what he is responsible for.

A lot of times, the caretaker’s arc and fulfillment of that arc center around them becoming parental surrogates and friends to O&E. The culmination of the relationship is the end-game. Here, I wanted a character whose arc is more about resolution of faith, ethics, and guilt which so happens to coincide with a change in his dynamics to the people in his life. And through the observation of his struggles, Oskar himself is challenged to reconsider his own worldview and what his actions mean in a larger context - since ultimately the tale of LtLNE is about the growth of Oskar as a person, given contrasting role models in the form of Elias, Milton, and Levi. They each represent potential futures for him (with the unspoken fourth option being ‘Oskar at 40’ in my eyes).


Phew. Anyhow, author rant aside, I did indeed consider Damien simply staking out and eventually cracking open the secret of the blood drives at the church. I avoided approaching that topic mostly for the sake of pacing and because I needed him to discover the “truth” in a way that would ensure his temporary silence without immediately having evidence necessary to warrant a more official investigation (I don’t know about laws for faking Red Cross drives but I imagine that Milton would get hit pretty hard for that). It would’ve escalated sooner than I was ready for.

It may have something to do with Damien as a person, too. He’s a bit of an acute-angles kind of thinker, likes to sometimes take a longer way around simply because it sweetens the mystery or hunt better than the more direct approach. He hasn’t gotten to hunt a person in a long time, so perhaps he’s deliberately trying to wring out as much time as he can (despite wanting to catch the killer, bit of cognitive dissonance there I think). I may have to simply concede it as a plot contrivance and rely on the rest of the tale being readable enough so as to gloss over that bit.

[gkmoberg1]

A lot of times, the caretaker’s arc and fulfillment of that arc center around them becoming parental surrogates and friends to O&E.

The treatment fanfic writers give to a caretaker character and to Oskar provide gist for many of our stories. Yours included, absolutely. I am intrigued.

The compromised caretaker is a relatively easy path to explore in fanfic writing. Somebody, for example, who is a criminal is more likely - I suppose this will offend a criminal out there somewhere. sorry. - to have a lower bar for accepting an Eli into their life and care. Your Milton and all he strives to represent is a far tougher road to travel. Bravo to you for taking this on! While Milton becomes compromised by Eli's action and his (Milton's) subsequent choice to continue accepting Eli in his home, Milton does not yield any obedience or control to Eli. Compare Milton to Håkan in terms of this. This is I why I found the line "This is how we live without death. You’re doing the right thing." so interesting. Milton justifies taking in Eli. Yet Milton refuses to permit Eli to act as the little one has done up until now.... "This is how we live without death."

As a contrast: Long ago, I wrote 'Old Farmer Halvard' wherein I wanted the gentle farmer who would annually care for Eli to remain pure at heart. My only choice -the only one I came up with- was to have Eli conceal his true nature from the farmer. Thus the caretaker remained uncompromised. But it was done through deception, which btw thus also falls out as a relatively easy path to write as a fanfic author. No, you with Milton have certainly grabbed this bull by the horns rather than step out the way!

[dongregg]

Old farmer Halvard is so gentle and never thinks that Eli is other than a kind of sprite.

My caretakers in Set Me As a Seal are aware from the get-go that the kids are vampires, and they have their own reasons for protecting them. It's touch and go for the grownups to keep the third grownup in the dark as long as possible. Which caused this writer to be very nimble.

But that's a tale very different from your extraordinarily gripping Let the Long Night End!!!

[gkmoberg1]

Jed from ACL's The Hunters is another caretaker character that is developed in depth along with the reasons why Jed supports Eli even upon learning the full nature of the bereft child he finds in the woods. Jed and Eli is the focus from start to finish. Much to be learned there.

[SpartanAltego]

Jed from ACL's The Hunters is another caretaker character that is developed in depth along with the reasons why Jed supports Eli even upon learning the full nature of the bereft child he finds in the woods. Jed and Eli is the focus from start to finish. Much to be learned there.

Jed in particular (along with the entirety of The Hunters) remains one of my favorite things to come out of the LtROI community. I was actually a little surprised reading through the thread logs and noting that back then, readers had mixed feelings about him mostly because he wasn’t Oskar. I felt that was kind of the point.

Old farmer Halvard is so gentle and never thinks that Eli is other than a kind of sprite.

My caretakers in Set Me As a Seal are aware from the get-go that the kids are vampires, and they have their own reasons for protecting them. It's touch and go for the grownups to keep the third grownup in the dark as long as possible. Which caused this writer to be very nimble.

But that's a tale very different from your extraordinarily gripping Let the Long Night End!!!

In particular, I find your Avila to have the strongest or perhaps most easily relatable motive for shielding the kids (Oskar in particular). It bypasses a lot of the (sometimes rote) early steps when you introduce an overseer who is already quite familiar with at least one party and has preexisting history to inform some of his reactions.

Old Farmer Halvard is a tale I don’t think I’ve come across yet - I’ll have to seek it out (or ask someone to link it to me ) when I settle in for some birthday reading tonight! Hoping to have have Part XI ready for your consumption by October 1st! Just need to sit down and bite the bullet. It’s gonna be a ride.

[dongregg]

I just bumped "little Funny Fictions, so it should be the first thread in Fan Fictions.

GK's tale -- Eli and Farmer Halvard ("Trykk. Trykk.") is on screen 6.

A short triplet from GK is on screen 50.

Thundy-Mindy is really funny. By Clubmeister. You'll have to look for it.

Okay, I wrote these Valentine cards:

Dear Eli:
You smell like road kill.
You're not even a girl.
Then why, Valentine,
Is my heart all a-twirl?

Dear Oskar:
If you will be my Valentine,
I will be your…
Oh never mind—
I just won't kill you.

\:

[SpartanAltego]

Snip.

Thank you for the references, Don! They were worthwhile reads (and did a good job of easing my strained humors). The differing takes on the Valentine got a sensible chuckle out of me as well.

I'm making strong, consistent progress on Part XI, aiming for that October 1st completion date. I think I'm going to make it a personal goal of mine to complete this tale before the 1st of November, just for the fun of it. Then, to celebrate, I think I'll take advantage of my newfound adulthood and enjoy a writer's glass of wine.

Felt like burning a little time, so I took a few songs from my phone's musical playlist for LtLNE and searched them up/linked them below. Each song is attributed to a different character, and I use them along with many others to get into the right mood for the story. Hopefully you'll enjoy them and perhaps even gain a new understanding for the characters and the emotions I mean to convey through them. Or you'll just add a few new tracks to your personal collections. I was actually going to put up several more, but some of my titles (plus the type of music itself) were a little spoiler-y to me. So I just chose ones that would've been 'heard' already in this tale.

Let the Long Night End: The Motion Picture Soundtrack (Disc One)

1. "Oskar at 13" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i4qKemaZG4
Growing up is hard. Growing up alone is harder still.
2. "Memory of Elias" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEuNySeWQy0
I'm twelve. But I've been twelve for a very long time.
3. "Carmen's Medley" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTzqF-z0D_8
The stars aren't sad. It's just you.
4. "Good Samaritan" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUZMkVBotb4
Life can change completely with one chance encounter.
5. "The Matthews Family" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-h-XYJG-3o
Say the word, and my servant will be healed.
6. "Olly Olly Oxen Free" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXNn-OepFYs
A beast named Levi.
7. "Damien Alone" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JStNiimy6vl
I think God cares about all of us, equally. It's just that when you tally it up that sum doesn't amount to much.
8. "Abraham Revealed" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT7BYDOs7Ow
Thank you for inviting me in.
9. "Abigail" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQmHlQ3ZEys
He just hurts people because he's scared and got hurt. What's so special about that?
10. "The Matthews Family Plus Two" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9MR4l3cHEk
Try to think of a wish this time, okay?