A Threshold Story tells the story of a meaningful crossing in your life—

not simply what happened to you, but who you became because of what happened.

Think of your story as a journey across a threshold. You begin in one place, as one version of yourself. Something happens that disrupts, challenges, awakens, or changes you. You move through an experience you may not have chosen or understood at the time. Eventually, you emerge understanding, claiming, or becoming something you could not have known before. If you haven’t already read “What is a Threshold Story,” you should do that first. It will help you see the big picture before you start mapping out your story.

Rupture is what changed. The rupture becomes a threshold.

The threshold inspires a story.

 Your story does not need a perfect ending. You may still be living with what happened.

Transformation does not mean everything turned out well or that you achieved a resolution. Because we are always in the process of becoming.

What is your  story really about?

 Before you begin writing, try completing these sentences

  • This is a story about the time when. . . .

  • Before this happened, I believed. . . .

  • What changed was. . . .

  • Because of this experience, I came to understand. . . .

  • If another woman carries one thing away from my story, I hope she knows. . . .

Don't worry if you can’t answer all of these prompts yet. Sometimes we discover what our story means by writing it. You may want to refer back to your answers and refine them.

Your  Story in Five Movements

A Threshold Story is not the story of your life. It is the story of one crossing that changed your life. You were living life. A rupture happened. That rupture became a threshold. Crossing the threshold created an opportunity to reclaim something. You changed. And the process is repeated again and again in our lifelong journey of becoming.

What is a Threshold Story provides an overview of the Threshold Story initiative from Red Tent Press. This abridged version of a Threshold Story map introduces you to the five movements of a Threshold Story.

Your story may not precisely follow these movements or the word counts. Human lives rarely do.

If you choose to become a founding author, you will have access to a detailed version of this story map to guide your storytelling as well as a Writing Guide to support you if you are an emerging writer or author. And Gretchen, your friendly Village editor, is always a text message or email away, ready to support you.

The Five Movements

Who were you before you crossed this threshold?

Who was I when this story began?

What changed?

What disrupted the person I had been?

Every threshold has a crossing point. Something happened. Something changed. You made a choice. You discovered something. Sometimes the rupture is dramatic. Sometimes it is a quiet realization: I cannot keep living this way.

·       What happened?

·       What did you feel in the moment?

·       What did you know? What didn't you know yet?

·       What became impossible to ignore?

Give just enough of your life before the central event to understand why what happened mattered.

·     What did you believe about yourself?

·     What role were you playing?

·     What did your or other people expect of you?

·     What did you want, fear, assume, or take for granted?

What did you have to move through?

What did crossing this threshold ask of me?

What did you claim, release, remember, or choose?

What became mine to claim?

You encounter uncertainty, resistance, choices, strong emotions, discovery, or change.

·       What did you fear, lose, or resist?

·       What choice did you make, what action?

·       Did an old expectation or identity shift?

·       What did you begin to remember about yourself?

Download an Abridged Copy of the Story Map

Something begins to shift. Reclamation doesn't have to be triumphant.

·       I finally told the truth.

·       I asked for help.

·       I stayed. I left. I began again.

·       I understood that I was enough.

·       I chose something larger than myself.

Who are you because you lived this story?

Who am I becoming because of what happened?

You don't need to tie your story into a neat bow. Life continues. Look back from where you stand now.

·       Who crossed that threshold?

·       Who emerged?

·       What do you understand now that you could not understand then?

·       What remains difficult?

·       What wisdom did you earn?