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“You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” ~Frederick Buechner
Workshop: Discover
Words That Sing
“Thresholds are
necessary in the creative process in giving an idea somewhere to go.” Tim
Wynne-Jones
Themes
Earlier in Deepen Vocabulary we looked at some ways we can influence
our words with ambiguity like crossing a threshold. Here we’re looking at
thresholds as an example of conveying image symbols with almost silent
connections that undergird themes like the web threads without being as direct.
Themes can often become a silent and powerful tool for typology impact through
questions and choices and possibilities. Whether the purpose is for one scene
only or an ongoing thread it invites personal participation.
Do we open the locked
door at the end of the spider-coated hallway? Are we ready to hear the words
written in the old manuscripts found buried under the house?
When Eve saw that the tree God had forbidden, “was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and
she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Pandora
couldn’t contain her curiosity and opened the box. “Out flew every kind of disease and sickness, hate and envy, and all the
bad things that people had never experienced before. Pandora slammed the lid
closed, but it was too late.”
Both these
women were well warned before they succumbed to temptation, but what about the
times there are no clear directions. We have good reason to hesitate before the
unknown. When do we need courage
to resist a threshold, because the consequences are beyond our control and
could bring great suffering, or risk stepping into the unknown to bring light
into darkness?
If Lucy had
not opened the door at the back of the wardrobe and discovered Narnia, she and
her siblings would not have been instrumental in breaking the White Witch’s
spell. By willingly entering the Beast’s palace, Belle breaks the curse.
Hercule Poirot follows every lead possible until he can bring a culprit to
justice.
Change, no matter how small, can create mental and emotional chaos as
you turn into a different direction, physically or emotionally. To cross a
threshold though requires a choice, even if it has been forced upon you like a
refugee fleeing his war torn land. All sensory memory is heightened and
sharpened. It is not just the moment that is at stake, but the journey that
follows it. Thresholds become part of our soul shadows as much as our physical
bodies cast their shadow. And the question can linger. “Did I choose the right
fork in the road?”
Action Steps:
1. Look at the literal thresholds in
your character’s daily world and choose one to explore as a figurative
threshold.
2. Think of ways they could become a
life-changing threshold for your character: doors, windows, cupboards, gardens,
railroads, or books.
3. And/or put your character into a moment of choice. Overwrite all
the sensory details in the initial draft. Then write up the brief scene twice,
once for each possible decision: to flee or fight, or to submit the accepted
dogma either socially or personally.
Share: What main theme connection did you choose? Why?
Read deep, marcy
Thresholds Bonus Exercise
 The following are some quotes from the movie Green Dragon. Put your own character
into a mini scene where he or she makes the statement for themselves, from the
perspective of crossing a threshold literally or figuratively.
“Going to
provide a taste of the dream.”
“People like you are the reason we
are here.”
“But maybe I can do something for
you.”
“What do we have to lose? We’ve lost
everything already.”
“Fate has always been cruel to me
but like our country I will endure”
Share: Did you see
anything new in your character?
Thresholds of Distance
These include worlds apart in distance, such as East to
West, or civilization to wilderness.
Then too, is the distance created by time barriers as found in time
travel fantasy to move across historical eras, and science–fiction travel
crossing space and time?
Each one of these thresholds often includes a mechanism. How
will the crossing and re-crossing be accomplished? What new thresholds happen
if stranded? Is there a limit before a character must choose to stay or leave
permanently?
The movie Avatar
includes multiple layers. First there is the threshold to be permitted to
travel to Avatar. Then there is the different stratas of power and influence within
the mining colony. Next comes the limited access to the Nav’i, the inhabitants
of Pandora, with another hierarchy of status based on qualities almost
completely counter cultural to the business based colony. And within each
crossing and re-crossing is the threat of death from the poisonous atmosphere.
Take another look at the movie, or another time-space
crossing genre, and make a list of all the distance barriers: physically,
emotionally, mentally, spiritually and morally.
Exercise:
1. Choose one of the above categories and put your
character into that moment of choice. Overwrite all the sensory details.
2. Then write up the scene twice, once for each
possible decision: to flee or fight, or to submit the accepted ‘dogma’ either
socially or personally.
Share: Which one
has the strongest emotional reaction? Why?
Thresholds of Immigration
This includes two separate layers of thresholds. First is
the sense of a new arrival. Will the journey chosen to find shelter bring death
or freedom? Then later begins the
journey of “non-acceptance/ acceptance, understood/not understood” in social
mores and customs.
As I’ve shared in a previous blog, an excellent example of a
cross-cultural situation can be found in the movie Green Dragon. One poignant scene occurs with a young woman frantic
to get some milk for her baby who cannot digest the American version. The baby
needs sugar added. A leader in her community is refusing, in a misguided
perception that they still need to ration, so in his mind he is being
responsible. When one of the cooks gets a translation of the difficulty he
makes it clear they can have as much as they need. Both refugees are stunned. But their reactions are very
different. The woman is grateful and relieved while the leader is miffed with a
perception that the young cook has interfered with his authority.
Exercise:
1. Put your
character in a situation where she either dreams, or actually experiences, a refugee
relocation. It can be either by war, or natural disaster, or a long term
camping trip for someone who has never camped before.
2. What is the first thing
she does to give her space a personal focus? Or how does she resist?
Share: Give an
example of a serious misunderstanding and another that is humorous.
Thresholds of Ambiguity
Wynne-Jones refers to this as a pulse outside of oneself. “There is about Thresholds this ambiguity of
which way is in and which way is out.”
Hansel and Gretel
are left to find their way in the woods. Red
Riding Hood travels a familiar path but comes back from one visit
completely different, or is she? The wolf comes calling through the doors of
the Three Little Pigs.
“At the door of the house who will come knocking?
An open door, we enter
A closed door, a den
The world pulse beats outside my door.”
Pierre
Albert Birot
(As shared by Tim Wynne-Jones as another quote from
Bachelard’s book The Poetics of Space.)
The long running series Stargate
enfolds this aspect of ambiguity each time the characters step through the
pulsing gate to enter a wormhole. Even when they return to a familiar world,
life may have dramatically changed. Or at least the possibility always exists
making each entrance ambiguous.
Exercise:
1.
Wynne-Jones refers to this as an ongoing process
using the image of a life waiting to be born over and over again trying to get
it right.
What other images would fit into the concept of a repeated pulse as an
ongoing climb towards completion.
Share: What image
did you choose?
Thresholds as Commitment
“But is he who opens a
door and he who closes it the same being”
Gaston
Bachelard
This takes a step through a barrier as in a dream. Alice follows the rabbit hole down the
hole. It is not as deliberate a choice as a crossing, but nevertheless, it
makes a commitment to see through the opportunities or perhaps, as in Alice’s
case, the curiosities that the opening represents.
When Sleeping Beauty discovered a spindle for the first time
she was immediately drawn to it and then crossed the threshold into her destiny
forged by the curse, but not with the dire ends of its intent.
Cinderella’s passage from scullery maid into a guest at the
ball opened the door to her royal future.
“That is what Thresholds are all about in literature,” says
Tim Wynne-Jones. “A Threshold is the physical manifestation of change.”
Exercise:
1.
Make another list of similar barrier thresholds
either from fairy tales or novels you remember.
2.
Then make another list of all the changes in the
characters between their opening and closing their doors.
3.
Which were subtle and which were startling?
Share: How could
you take one of your examples and redress it into another genre?
Thresholds as Crossings
 Here we deliberately make a choice to step into new stages,
probably never to return: a passage of some moment. It can include walking away
from a place, or a relationship, or choosing to no longer be who we were a few
minutes earlier.
In the novel, The Hero
and the Crown, protagonist Aerin made that crossing when she arrived at her
first dragon slaying. “Talat halted, and they stood, Aerin gazing
into the black hole in the hill. A minute or two went by and she wondered,
suddenly, how one got the dragon to pay attention to one in the first place.
Did she have to wake it up? Yell? Throw water into the cave at it? Just as her
spearpoint sagged with doubt, the dragon hurtled out of its den and straight at
them:”
In Phantom of the Opera, this moment comes for
Raoul, when he stands before the Phantom, prepared to die if he must, in order
to rescue Christine. His love is proven true and his courage stands up
regardless of the consequence.
Exercise:
1.
Review the most recent fiction you have read.
From memory only, can you pick out one or two threshold crossings in the story?
2.
What impact on the overall story did they make?
Was it a quiet decision or a major plot point?
Share: Can you
adapt the emotional cost to a character in your novel? Why or why not?
Thresholds
“Thresholds are necessary in the
creative process in giving an idea somewhere to go.” Tim Wynne-Jones
Change, no matter how small, can create mental and emotional
chaos as you turn into a different direction, physically or emotionally. To
cross a threshold though requires a choice, even if it has been forced upon you
like a refugee fleeing his war torn land. All sensory memory is heightened and
sharpened. It is not just the moment that is at stake, but the journey that
follows it. Thresholds become part of our soul shadows as much as our physical
bodies cast their shadow. And the question can linger. “Did I choose the right
fork in the road?”
“An Eye for Thresholds,”
is an excellent essay written by Tim Wynne-Jones in the book Only Connect. His focus is under the
category of Books and Children, so
I’m taking extreme liberties by borrowing some of his threshold categories, and
then adapting them and paraphrasing some for my own purposes.
As you look at each category make notes as to where a
challenge of beliefs or values could become a tension point, either personally
for your main character, or in relationship to family or society.
Thresholds as
Connectors
Do we open the
locked door at the end of the spider-coated hallway? Are we ready to hear the
words written in the old manuscripts found buried under the house?
Look at these familiar solid connections and think of ways
they can become a life-changing threshold doors, windows, railroads, books.
Exercise:
1.
Choose one of these categories and brainstorm
ten to twenty ways they can become a threshold connector either literally or
metaphorically or even better—both.
2.
Which one is the strongest? Which the weakest?
Share: What makes
the difference?
 Thresholds as Connectors Do we open the locked door at the end of the spider-coated hallway? Are we ready to hear the words written in the old manuscripts found buried under the house? When Eve saw that the tree God had forbidden, “was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Pandora couldn’t contain her curiosity and opened the box. “Out flew every kind of disease and sickness, hate and envy, and all the bad things that people had never experienced before. Pandora slammed the lid closed, but it was too late.” Both these women were well warned before they succumbed to temptation, but what about the times there are no clear directions. We have good reason to hesitate before the unknown. When do we need courage to resist a threshold, because the consequences are beyond our control and could bring great suffering, or risk stepping into the unknown to bring light into darkness? If Lucy had not opened the door at the back of the wardrobe and discovered Narnia, she and her siblings would not have been instrumental in breaking the White Witch’s spell. By willingly entering the Beast’s palace, Belle breaks the curse. Hercule Poirot follows every lead possible until he can bring a culprit to justice. Often the clues needed to solve a mystery, bring about justice and bring the truth out begin with ordinary things and familiar words. The investigator needs the insight to see them in the right light and respect warnings when given. “..stop and look around and step forward with courage and cognizance across otherwise invisible Thresholds into Discovery.” Tim Wynne-Jones Journal Prompt: Look at the literal thresholds in your character’s daily world and choose one to explore as a figurative threshold. Think of ways they could become a life-changing threshold for your character: doors, windows, cupboards, gardens, railroads, or books.
 “One is poised on the Threshold of life waiting to be born. It’s an ongoing process. Some of us are not happy unless we are born over and over again, still trying to get it right.” Tim Wynne-Jones Thresholds of Ambiguity Memory gives us the process of choice and decision-making and thresholds. Our understanding grows and our perspectives shift. A right choice made once before has now become a wrong choice. An ordinary day shifts suddenly into the unexpected—sometimes by events—sometimes morally. Scripture stories, fairy-tales and folk-tales speak this language into our hearts. We’re not left without access to wisdom or experience. Others have taken this journey and we find hints how to find our way through. The day began on an ordinary walk through the woods with their father searching for food, but this time Hansel and Gretel are abandoned. They step into the unknown. Many of their choices are made without mature knowledge but they rely on instinct. Red Riding Hood travels a familiar path to her grandmother’s house, but comes back from one visit completely different, or is she? The added beauty from a journey perspective is that the reality of common day-to-day activities can be developed into shadows, as passages from long ago or as foretelling to the future. All also have the potential to tap into echoes and allusions and metaphors. It opens up creativity and new beginnings. “Which way is in and which way is out.” In the movie Avatar, new arrival Jake Sully has no qualms about gathering intelligence on the Na’vi and their world. Jaded by his twin brother’s death and his own injuries, he just wants to walk again. And then he begins a dual life living among the Na’vi and reporting on them. Gradually his values change as he recognizes the threshold he is aiming for has moral consequences far greater than he imagined. Will the journey chosen to find shelter bring death or freedom?
Journal Prompt: Although nothing illegal has happened to your protagonist, she begins to notice some discrepancies in the paperwork. When she asks her boss he dismisses it as unimportant. However she realizes that only her signature is on the documents. And she really needs a job. What are her options? What course of action does she choose and why?
 Thresholds as Commitment Just as we plot out a map to a new location, this category requires taking a deliberate step of faith. We are not forced. We choose with as much insight as possible, even with an unknown outcome. Sometimes the decision is plotted out ahead of time, and sometimes it’s spur of the moment. But we accept the potential consequences before we act. Alice follows the rabbit down the hole even though the crossing feels as if she’s in a dream. Her curiosity overrides the penalty she fully expects for wandering away.
Consider a character’s rationalization in a space movie when someone who has never traveled through a time warp has to choose to get "beamed up.” Their career is in the line and that desire to be a part of exploration and discovery is strong enough to squash legitimate concerns. Do you know anyone who manages to get into an airplane when terrified of flying? What makes the person choose--commit to this action?
Or go backwards. A person refuses to cross the threshold and is held in her immediate sphere, much like phobias trap people, such as agoraphobia. How does a life get mapped out that is restricted by fear? And yet sometimes choosing a restricted boundary line can be freeing creatively. Emily Dickinson lived a reclusive life. The majority of her poems only became know after her death when her sister discovered the extensive works. Journal Prompt: Make a list of your character’s fears from childhood. Then put her in a situation where she has the opportunity to change it. What steps does she take? When does she hesitate? What gives her the ability to push ahead?
 “Thresholds are necessary in the creative process in giving an idea somewhere to go.” Tim Wynne-Jones Change, no matter how small, can create mental and emotional chaos as you turn into a different direction, physically or emotionally. To cross a threshold though requires a choice, even if it has been forced upon you like a refugee fleeing his war torn land. All sensory memory is heightened and sharpened. It is not just the moment that is at stake, but the journey that follows it. Thresholds become part of our soul shadows as much as our physical bodies cast their shadow. And the question can linger. “Did I choose the right fork in the road?” In a recent workshop, students and I wrestled with this metaphor and concept using categories suggested in “An Eye for Thresholds,” an excellent essay written by Tim Wynne-Jones in the book Only Connect. As we explored each category we noted that the metaphor opened several tension points as choices challenged beliefs, values and possibilities, either personally for a main character, or in relationship to family or society. So as I share these ideas, over this next month’s sequence, I hope you’ll join in the discussion. Thresholds as Crossings Here we deliberately make a choice to step into new stages, probably never to return: a passage of some moment. It can include walking away from a place, or a relationship, or choosing to no longer be who we were a few minutes earlier. Often that moment of decision become a life metaphor or signpost. For example, in the novel, The Hero and the Crown, protagonist Aerin made that crossing when she arrived at her first dragon slaying. “Talat halted, and they stood, Aerin gazing into the black hole in the hill. A minute or two went by and she wondered, suddenly, how one got the dragon to pay attention to one in the first place. Did she have to wake it up? Yell? Throw water into the cave at it? Just as her spear point sagged with doubt, the dragon hurtled out of its den and straight at them.” Despite the moment of hesitation Aerin acted upon all her preparation and stepped into a new role as a dragon-slayer. The threshold changed her life.
Journal Prompt: Put your character into a moment of choice. Overwrite all the sensory details in the initial draft. Then write up the brief scene twice, once for each possible decision: to flee or fight, or to submit the accepted ‘dogma’ either socially or personally.
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