30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 4

4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!

I grew up with my dad telling me stories and have come up with little adventures pretty much all my life. I didn't write my first actual story until I was 12. In 6th grade I learned about Ancient Greece (I had fallen in love with Greek Mythology the year before), and I learned about the Battle at Thermopylae Pass, where the Spartans made their last stand against the Persians, allowing the rest of the Greeks to get away and regroup. I liked the story and talked to my dad about it and he told me that there was a monument to the Spartans at Thermopylae with this inscription:

Stranger, tell the Lacedomonians

that we stand here, obedient to their will

I've later discovered there's a lot of different translations of the famous greek phrase, but that's the one I learned. The epitaph means that people should tell the Spartans that the warriors are dead, having fulfilled their orders to fight to the last man and die protecting Greece. To me this conjured up the idea that the Spartans are still there, waiting to rise again and fight to protect Greece. So I wrote a ghost story.

The hero of the story is Albert F. Coldsman, a professor of history at some random college. I don't really remember what he looked like but I think he had graying hair and I know he had glasses. He is visiting Thermopylae Pass and ends up taking shelter there during a sudden storm. While there he hears the sounds of fighting and sees the ghosts of Spartans fighting the Persians. One of the soldiers (Leonidas) looks right at Albert and says "Stranger, tell the Lacedomonians that we stand here, obedient to their will". The fighting fades, the storm stops, and Albert moves on but never forgets. It was a hand written story that was eventually typed up but I'm not sure where my copy of it is. I made Albert into a man who is a magnet for ghosts and everywhere he goes he sees or hears them and helps to lay them to rest. The character was based, in part, on the stories told to me by my father about his friend, Pete D'Alessio. That first story became one of several ghost stories about Albert in a book called The Diary of Albert F. Coldsman. Ah, Albert, I remember you fondly.

I know I drew some pictures of him back in 6th and 7th grade but I have no idea where they are right now, so I'll leave you with a painting of the Battle of Thermopylae Pass by Jacques-Louis David.