A New Story

During all of summer so far, I've been working on a new story.  Over the years I've begun tons and tons of other stories, but the furthest any of them have gone is somewhere slightly above twenty pages.  I always start new stories because I always come up with new ideas, and I want to start writing them because I'm afraid that I'll forget them.  Because of this, I end up working on many stories at the same time.  This bothers my brother; whenever I announce that I've begun writing yet another story, he says something along the lines of "Better finish it this time".  However, this time, I think I really am going to focus on one story instead of several all at once.  I've done a lot of thinking and planning - I presently have two large posters covered with pages of notes and pictures, which cover so much of my wall in my room, that one could fit two large windows there.  One of my best friends writes stories as well, and we read each other's, comment on them, say what we like about them, and what we don't like, and help spot grammatical and spelling errors.  This story, which I've been calling "The New Story", as it does not have a title yet, is a little more personal.  I don't think I'll share it with anyone to read until most or all of it has been written.  My friend wanted to draw some of the characters in my New Story, so I described some of them to her.  Below is her drawing of one of my characters (she drew it with a marker on a whiteboard and took a picture of it).

My friend's drawing of one of my characters.

It was inspired by this picture of Vivien Leigh, which I found on Google Images and sent to my friend for guidance.

The picture above is from:  http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/vivien-leigh/images/18787298/title/vivien_scarlett-photo

My writing is very character-based.  The first things that come to my mind are characters, dialogue, emotions, situations to put the characters in, and themes.  Coming up with a plot is the hardest part for me.  Currently, my New Story has an almost-plot.  I have yet to organize it, however.

Before I Could Read

Even before I could read the words, I loved looking at the illustrations in picture books and novels.  They contributed to bringing the story alive for me, and inspired my imagination.  Because of the personal tie I have to all of the books from my childhood, many of my favorite illustrators are those that did the illustrations for those books.  In this post, I'm going to take a look in a book (to quote Reading Rainbow) and show the different art styles in books I loved when I was little.

Let's begin with what was my favorite picture book for a long time, Buried Moon, a less-known fairy tale retold by Margaret Hodges and illustrated by Jamichael Henterly.  I love the atmosphere created by these illustrations.  They're eerie, detailed, and fit the tone of the fairy tale perfectly.  Below are some pictures I took of some of the illustrations.

Then of course there is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.  The Chronicles of Narnia are a childhood favorite of mine.  The illustrations in my copy of this novel are beautiful, and I think match the spirit and personality of C. S. Lewis' story.  They each contribute to the story telling and help the story unfold.  Pictures tell a story just as much as words can.

 Another childhood favorite of mine was Lassie Come Home, by Eric Knight.  Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight is a beautiful, tear-jerking classic story that was published in 1940, about the loyalty of a rough collie to her friend.  When I was little, I had a picture book edition of this story by Rosemary Wells that I loved, which is beautifully illustrated by Susan Jeffers.

The Wild Swans, a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, is a favorite of mine.  I had a picture book version of his story when I was little, by Marlee Alex.  The illustrations are by Juan Alonso Diaz-Toledo.

The picture above was my favorite illustration in this picture book.  Ever since I first saw it when I first opened the book to read it, I have always wanted to have pearls in my hair like the heroine, Princess Elisa, does in The Wild Swans.

Being Irish and Scottish, I had plenty of Irish and Scottish story books as a little kid.  One of my favorite Irish fairy tales to read (or admire the illustrations of) was Finn MacCoul and His Fearless Wife:  A Giant of a Tale from Ireland.  Robert Byrd both retold this story and did the illustrations for his picture book, which are lovely and match the mood of the story.

A Scottish folk tale that I loved when I was little was (and still is of course) Tam Lin.  I still treasure this book, a retelling of an ancient Scottish ballad in the form of a picture book by Jane Yolen, and illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak.  The illustrations in this picture book are beautiful and tell the story so well.

Two of my favorite illustrators are K. Y Craft and Gennady Spirin.  Both of these illustrators have done the illustrations for Russian fairy tales in picture books.  I love their style, partly because I love Russian art style and partly because I find their talent to be very impressive.

Illustrations from Philipok, a story by Leo Tolstoy, retold by Ann Keay Beneduce and illustrated by Gennady Spirin:

And some illustrations from another picture book about a Russian legend called The Sea King's Daughter, retold by Aaron Shepard and also illustrated by Gennady Spirin:

I love the soft lines and dreamy colors of Gennady Spirin's illustrations.  I also love K. Y. Craft's art style.  She did the illustrations for one of my favorite picture books, a retelling by Marianna Mayer of the Russian tale Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave.

And lastly, here are some illustrations from my Cinderella picture book, illustrated by John Patience.  I love these illustrations because of the texture of the dress Cinderella wears, which seems like a bubbly, soapy, multi-color liquid.  I always thought the illustrations in this book were beautiful, unique, and well done.

My Favorite Color: A Becoming Shade of Green

If I were asked what my favorite color is, I would usually answer either "green" or "green and blue", or something along those lines.  But if I were to delve further into the idea of what my favorite color is, my answer would be more specifically, a certain shade of green.  

When I was little, I loved to read story books.  One of my favorite story books was The Fairies' Ring.

A certain shade of green pops up in many of the illustrations throughout The Fairies' Ring.  Most of them show a fairy in a green gown.  The exact shade of green the fairies are wearing is my favorite color.  I like it more than any other color.

Below are two of the illustrations that show this shade of green.  It's a very rich green, and it isn't very dark or very light.  It's more in between;  it reminds me of how clovers look after it has rained.  

I have always really liked the introduction of this book.  It says:  

"Are fairies real?  No.  If you are a scientist who needs proof beyond faith, beyond anecdote, beyond mouth-to-ear resuscitation, there are no fairies.  If you are modern, if you are an adult, if you cannot remember childhood, if you need irrefutable facts, there are no fairies.  Yes.  If you are from the nineteenth century or earlier; if you are a storyteller, a peasant nurse, a grandmother, a flower lover, a child, then there are fairies."

So where does the phrase "a becoming shade of green" come from?  Well, it's kind of a long story...

The first time I ever saw Babar:  King of the Elephants (1999) was when I was either three or four years old.  My favorite scene was when Babar sang a song called "I Can Take Good Care of Me".  During Kindergarten I memorized the entire song from start to finish and performed it in front of my class (and at the end of my performance I posed and shouted "Yeah!" as if it were a Jazz number).  Anyways, the suit that Babar wears is described throughout the movie as a "becoming shade of green".  If you have never seen this movie, you most likely have no clue what I am talking about.

So, what does this story have to do with the topic of this post?  I dunno.  

Okay, just kidding.  

The real answer is:  not much, except that this song and this movie come to mind whenever I think of my favorite color.  I think the reason is because I associate this particular color with my childhood memories. To me, green is also a symbol of life and rebirth, as it is for many other people.

A Piece of Advice

“Don't try to write anything you can't feel” 

- Emily Climbs by L. M. Montgomery

Well, I've decided to follow a piece of advice once given me;  I'm going to begin a blog.  Ever since the idea was suggested to me, the thought of it often came to my mind.  Finally, I decided to create one...well, two, actually.  There will be "The Alpine Path", and "My Period Drama Obsession".

The reason I've decided to begin a blog called My Period Drama Obsession is simply because I need somewhere else to discuss the film genre of period drama (which can also be called costume drama or historical drama, though I personally prefer the term period drama).  There's just so much I want to say about this film genre.  If I were to discuss the subject of period drama here, everything else would drown in it.  Therefore there will be a separate blog for that purpose.  My Period Drama Obsession will be a place where I share my opinions about various period drama films.  I may change the title "My Period Drama Obsession" to something more creative, but for now, whether or not I ever change it, I'll keep that title.

The Alpine Path will be a place for me to express my thoughts, whatever they may be at the moment.  Being a writer, I have always felt the need for a place to vent my thoughts, an outlet for my writing.  Writing has always been and always will be a driving force in my life.  To be a writer is my past, present, and future.  As someone once told me, "keep writing".  I plan to do just this with this blog.

So, why "The Alpine Path" for a title?  It all has to do with my favorite author and inspiration, L. M. Montgomery.

L. M. Montgomery is my soul where writing is concerned.  I admire her, her style of writing, and her stories, and she makes me feel motivated to write.  When I read her stories, I feel like writing my own.  I have this feeling whenever I'm reading, no matter what book or what author it's written by, but I feel the urge to write most strongly when I read an L. M. Montgomery novel.  What I enjoy writing most is stories.  Not short stories, but novels.  A problem I have, however, is that I struggle with staying with one story at a time.  I am constantly getting new ideas for other stories, so even when I may have just started a new story, I already feel like starting yet another one.  The result is writing numerous stories all at once, and though I love writing them, they each progress very gradually.  Some of the faults I wish to improve upon in my writing are repetitiveness and long descriptive passages that diverge from the plot.  Hopefully, I will be less repetitive in my writing here.

But where does the name come from?  Throughout the Emily series by L. M. Montgomery (Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily's Quest), the heroine, Emily Starr, refers to something she calls "the alpine path".  The Emily trilogy is darker, emotionally raw, and more spiritually in touch (in an unearthly eerie way) than the more well known Anne books (the first of the Anne books being her most famous novel, Anne of Green Gables), and the character of Emily reflects L. M. Montgomery in many ways.  

My copy of the first edition of Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery, from 1923. 

One of the similarities between the character of Emily and her creator, L. M. Montgomery, is that their life ambition and dream was to write, and to be a writer.  Emily lives through writing - in fact in one of the three books, she describes it as being as necessary for her as breathing.  The "alpine path" represents the path we must climb in life to reach our dream.  It of course could hold many more meanings than this simple one, which is so common among us, yet so treasured.  When I think of the alpine path, I think of my journey as a writer and the road I will take on that journey.  I am always reaching new heights on the alpine path, and I have a long way to go.       

"When I read that, the flash came, and I took a sheet of paper...and I wrote on it:  I, Emily Byrd Starr, do solemnly vow this day that I will climb the Alpine Path and write my name on the scroll of fame." 

- Emily of New Moon, by L. M. Montgomery

An illustration by Maria L. Kirk on the frontpiece of the book, depicting Emily
Starr as a young girl with the mystic "Wind Woman".

Although I am looking forward to writing in this blog about all the things that interest me, such as history, literature, film, art, music, and dance, I may not begin writing for a while.  For now, I'm just going to dive into starting my period drama blog.  I may write here again sooner than I think, then again I may not.  Still, either way, welcome to my first of two blogs, The Alpine Path.

Note:  I have since changed the title.  It is no longer called "The Alpine Path", but "Climbing the Alpine Path".