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.

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".