Meeting the Inner Wolf? Writing Lessons from Wolves, Robin Hood, & Sleeping Beauty from Martin Shaw & Bardskull
For storytellers, daydreamers, or writers searching for inspiration, these conversations will leave you hungry to write—and ready to embrace the wildness within.
Why does myth matter to writers today? Because it’s the forgotten language of the soul—a force as vital as oxygen for the spirit. Three mentors from LegendFiction - Dominic, Mary, and Gabi - dive into short selections from Martin Shaw’s Bardskull, a book that transforms myth back into something living, breathing, and wild.
Shaw’s solitary pilgrimage through Dartmoor’s ancient forests parallel the creative journey every writer faces: grappling with burnout, balancing emotional intensity, and rediscovering purpose beyond fleeting recognition.
From wolves to Robin Hood, we meet each week to explores how writing evolves from wish fulfillment to a spiritual vocation, connecting us to the wild unpredictability of inspiration and the deeper truths waiting to be told.
Enjoy the first three episodes here, and follow us on YouTube for these weekly episodes!
1. Hunting for Myth with Bardskull • Read & Reflect with Legends Live
Why does myth matter to authors (and everyone) today? How about this: they are the language of the soul. Let's get into Martin Shaw's groundbreaking book 'Bardskull', and its deep dive into the power of myth as a real, present, and challenging thing. Shaw’s journeys through the forests of Dartmoor mirror his own journey into the forgotten language of the soul. Myth is more than ancient stories. It is oxygen for the spirit, a force that can maintain the health of the world.
2. From Burnout to Breakthrough: Writing That Feeds Your Soul • Bardskull by Martin Shaw
Dominic, Mary, and Gabi read 'Bardskull' by Marti Shaw, and its powerful call to reclaim the ancient meaning of mythology. We talk about our desire to be seen vs real connection. Writing often starts as wish fulfillment, but can evolve into an actual spiritual path that attracts real things - both inspiration and challenges—things that can either drain our energy or lift us higher. Plus, we share personal struggles: battling burnout, balancing emotional intensity, and finding purpose beyond fame-seeking. Writing isn’t just about producing—it’s about letting the story reveal itself, feeding both the writer and the audience in the process.
3. Meeting the Inner Wolf? Writing Lessons from Wolves, Robin Hood, & Sleeping Beauty | Bardskull
What do ancient hill forts, Robin Hood, and wolves have to teach us about writing and life? In this week’s conversation, our legendary mentors Mary Kreger and Gabi Battel join Dominic to read short selections from Martin Shaw’s 'BardSkull'. Together, we delve into themes of encountering magic in the mundane, the wild unpredictability of inspiration, and how writers can reconnect with nature to fuel creativity.
ABOUT MARTIN SHAW
Dr Martin Shaw is a writer, storyteller and mythologist. He is a wilderness rites of passage guide and spent four years living in a tent. Shaw founded the Oral Tradition and Living Myth courses at Stanford University and was named by the Irish Times as an “interloper from the medieval.”
ABOUT BARDSKULL
Bardskull is the record of three journeys made by Martin Shaw, the celebrated storyteller and interpreter of myth, in the year before he turned fifty. It is unlike anything he has written before. This is not a book about myth or narrative. Each of the three journeys sees Shaw walk alone into a Dartmoor forest and wait. What arrive are stories – fragments of myth that he has carried within him for decades: the deep history of Dartmoor itself; the lives of distant family members; Arthurian legend; and tales from India, Persia, Lapland, the Caucasus and Siberia. But these stories and their tellers don’t arrive as the bearers of solace or easy wisdom. As with all quests, Shaw is entering a domain of traps and tests. Bardskull can be read as a fable, as memoir, as auto-fiction or as an attempt to undomesticate myth. It is a magnificent, unclassifiable work of the imagination.