1. DEN VANLIGA VÄRLDEN
2. ROPET PÅ ÄVENTYR
3. VÄGRAN ATT DELTA I ÄVENTYRET
4. MÖTET MED EN MENTOR
5. FÖRSTA TRÖSKELN
6. PRÖVNINGAR, VÄNNER OCH FIENDER
7. INGÅNGEN TILL DEN INNERSTA GROTTAN
8. DEN STÖRSTA UTMANINGEN
9. BELÖNING
10. VÄGEN TILLBAKA
11. ÅTERUPPTÅNDELSE
12. KOMMA TILLBAKA MED ELIXIRET

PERSONFUNKTIONER:

HUVUDPERSON/HJÄLTE
MENTOR
FIENDER
SKUGGOR
FORMSKIFTARE
TRICKSARE, CLOWNER
BUDBÄRARE
VÄNNER
VÄKTARE VID TRÖSKLARNA
SYMBOLISKA SAKER
SYMBOLISKA DJUR
 
 

STEG FEM: FÖRSTA TRÖSKELN
 

Nu står hjälten på tröskeln till äventyrets värld, med en fot inne i den speciella världen. Ropet på äventyret har uppfattats, oron och ängslan inför förändringen har fått uttryck och blivit kanaliserade. Men den verkliga handlingen har ännu inte ägt rum. Att gå över den första tröskeln är att verkligen ta sig an äventyret och förändringen med fullt engagemang.
 

ATT NÄRMA SIG TRÖSKELN

Huvudpersonen brukar normalt inte acceptera råden och hjälpen från mentorn på ett enkelt sätt och sedan sätta igång med förändringen. Oftast tvingas hjälten av någon yttre omständighet ta itu med äventyret.Detta kallas av manusförfattarna för "plot point" eller "turning point". Den kan se ut på olika sätt: en galning dödar eller skadar eller kidnappar någon närstående huvudpersonen. Ett fruktansvärt oväder tvingar huvudpersonen att segla iväg med en båt, eller en konkurs tvingar huvudpersonen att börja en nytt liv, eller ett mord tvingar huvudpersonen in i arbetslöshet som i filmen The Rain King.

Hjälten kan i detta steg av berättelsen få slut på handlingsalternativ och måste göra ett val som är avgörande för framtiden. En del hjältar fångas in i äventyret och kommer inte undan. Andra lockas in i det samtidigt som det finns ett motstånd mot det.

Fråga: Vilken är "vändpunkten" i berättelsen du jobbar med? Vilken händelse trycker igång äventyret?

In Thelma and Louise, Louises impulsiv killing of a man who is assaulting Thelma is the action that pushes
the women to Cross the First Threshold into a new world of being on the run from the law.
An example of the externally imposed event is found in Hitchcocks North by Northwest. Advertising man Roger Thornhill, mistaken for a daring secret agent, has been trying his best to avoid his Call to Adventure all through the first act. It takes a murder to get him committed to the journey.  A man he's questioning at the U.N. building is killed in front of witnesses in such a way that everyone thinks Roger did it.  Now he is truly a "man on the run" , escaping both from the police and from the enemy agents who will stop at nothing to kill him. The murder is the external event that pushes the story over the First Threshold into the Special World, where the
stakes are bigher.
 

Q: Is anything like this happening in your story?

Internal events might trigger a Threshold Crossing as weil. Heroes come to decision points where their very souls are at stake, where they must decide "Do I go on living my life as I always have, or will I risk everything in the effort to grow and change?" In Ordinary People the deteriorating life of the young hero Conrad gradually pressures him into making a choice, despite his fears, to see a therapist and explore the trauma of his brother's death.
 

Q: Is any internal event triggering the hero in the story you work with?
 
 

Often a combination of external events and inner choices will boost the story towards the second act. In Beverly Hills Cop Axel Foley (Snuten i Hollywood) sees a childhood friend brutally executed by thugs, and is motivated to find the man who hired them. But it takes a separate moment of decision for him to overcome resistance and fully commit to the adventure. In a brief scene in which his boss warns him off the case, you see him make the inner choice to ignore the warning and enter the Special World at any cost.
 
 

THRESHOLD GUARDIANS

As you approach the threshold you're likely to encounter beings who try to block your way. They are called Threshold Guardians, a powerful and useful archetype. They may pop up to block the way and test the hero at any point in a story, but they tend to cluster around the doorways, gates and narrow passages of threshold crossings. Axel Foley's Detroit police captain, who firmly forbids him from getting involved in the investigation of the murder, is one such figure.
 

Q: Do you indentify any threshold guardian in your story?
 

Threshold Guardians are part of the training of any hero. In Greek myth, the three-headed monster dog Cerberus guards the entrance to the underworld, and many a hero has had to figure out a way past his jaws. The grim ferryman Charon who guides souls across the River Styx is another Threshold Guardian who must be appeased with a gift of a penny.

The task for heroes at this point is often to figure out some way around or through these guardians. Often their threat is just an illusion, and the solution is simply to ignore them or to push through them with faith. Other Threshold Guardians must be absorbed or their hostile energy must be reflected back onto them. The trick may be to realize that what seems like an obstacle may actually be the means of climbing over the threshold. Threshold Guardians who seem to be enemies may be turned into valuable allies.

Q: How is your hero climbing the threshold to the Adventure?