for writers: the hero journeys through the magical woods and finds…motifs

Poor, poor Shane from Maine.  He’s been stuck on those Spanish steps for months.

Get up, Bucko, it’s time to journey.
First, our hero must become wise in the ways of the Magical Woods.  Like most of us, he’s got to learn through trial and error. (Better known as “ the hard way“.)  He will overcome these [...]

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for writers: the hero’s initiation in the magical woods, and 14 characters plus one he might find there

So our little Shane from Maine stumbles into the airport, his regulation-sized carry-on rolling behind him. 

He is in Italy, the Magical Woods.  With his red flannel shirt and lumberjack boots, Shane from Maine is a Stranger in a Strange Land.  Time to begin his INITIATION.
The Magical Woods does not need to be literally “magic”,

nor “woods”. 

 
It is simply a place that [...]

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