Here's my take on it...
Level 1 - Go out of the east gate of Jangan and run north. Kill water ghosts with your SoS lvl 1+5 bow. Level up to 8.
Level 8 - Get the inventory expansion quest from the general shop owner and kill manyangs until the quest is complete. Go west of Jangan and get the exorcist's quest and kill yeohas/decayed yeohas. Level up to 10.
Level 10 - Go south/southwest of the exorcist until you see young tigers/tigers. Kill these with your lvl 10+7 bow. While leveling, do the quests involving archers, tigers, bandits, and bandit bowmen. Level up to 16.
Level 16 - Sit inside the bandit stronghold with your sos lvl 16+5 bow or higher and kill archers until level 19.
Level 19 - Get the white tiger quests and kill white tigers until level 20.
Level 20 - Get the cursed hearts quests and get enough hearts to delevel your bow skills back to zero if you didn't want bow skills.
Works well for me.
But seriously, no matter who you are... I'd start off with a bow. You don't really need hp berries/pots since you are at a distance. Also, you don't have to do as much running w/o decent grass walks. You could switch back to another weapon around level 10 - 16.