Good morning and welcome to Day 12!
(I kept saying Day 11 in a few places, but today is Day 12. So if you noticed that and thought, “hang on a second…”, you were right.)
Several people who haven’t been commenting or chatting much, but who are still opening the emails, watching the videos, and quietly doing the work emailed just to say, “I’m still here. This is who I am. This is what I’m writing.”
I loved that. Truly. It’s been such a pleasure getting to know you and your stories, and having a bit of back-and-forth about what you’re working on.
If you’ve been feeling shy about commenting publicly or jumping into the chat, please know that this challenge is running live right now, and that won’t always be the case.
This is your moment to ask questions, get feedback, and talk things through. I’m in the comments and in my inbox all day, so don’t hesitate to reach out.
The video archive
A quick practical note, since someone asked:
These videos will stay up for a while after the live portion of the challenge ends. My current plan is to leave them available for at least the first quarter of the year, so you’ll have time to catch up if life has gotten in the way.
I’ll give you notice before anything is archived or unpublished.
I also plan to run other Free Author Challenges every quarter, each with a different focus, so staying on this list means you’ll be invited to those as well.
Now, on to today’s lesson, which is genuinely one of my favourite parts of the hero’s journey.
Crossing the threshold
This is one of those beats that feels very final, very clean, and very satisfying. It’s also another one you can usually describe in just one sentence.
By this point, your Hero has:
lived in their ordinary world,
had that world destabilised by a problem,
resisted or refused the call in some way,
and met a guide who gives them the tools, confidence, or nudge they need.
Now we reach the moment where they overcome that refusal and commit.
Crossing the threshold is the point of no return. It’s the “crossing the Rubicon” moment—the decision or action that cannot be undone. Once this happens, your Hero does not get to go back to the ordinary world until the problem of the story has been resolved.
This commitment can take different forms. Sometimes it’s a clear decision. Sometimes it’s an action that shows us they’re in. Sometimes it’s a new rule coming into play that makes it impossible to turn back.
What matters is that we can see, unmistakably, that the story has shifted from should I do this? to how do I survive this?
A few familiar examples, just to ground this:
Neo takes the red pill.
Harry Potter leaves the Dursleys’ house to go to Hogwarts.
Katniss enters the arena.
Marlin leaves the reef and swims out into the open ocean.
In each case, the Hero has crossed into a world where the old rules no longer apply.
This doesn’t always have to be a physical crossing.
If your story is more emotional or psychological, the threshold can be internal—a line of dialogue, a decision, or an action that shows the Hero is ready to engage and be changed by what comes next. It still needs to be clear and final. But it doesn’t have to involve leaving a house, swallowing a pill, or walking into an arena.
In older, more mythic stories, refusal and acceptance are often very explicit: a clear no followed by a clear yes.
In more modern stories, refusal can linger, and the threshold may come later, but it still exists. Give us the moment where engagement truly begins.
Your task for today
In the comments below, write one sentence that tells us how your hero crosses the threshold.
Just one. Be specific, like:
Neo takes the red pill.
Harry leaves the Dursleys’ house.
Katniss enters the arena.
Marlin leaves the reef.
What is that moment in your story?
Reflection prompt
In the chat (or in the comments, if you prefer), spend some time with this question:
What new rule of the story becomes true only after your hero crosses the threshold?
You don’t need to explain this directly on the page for the reader, but you need to know the answer. It’s one of those questions that quietly makes the whole story stronger.
Before I go…
If you’re still here, you’ve crossed a threshold too. You had your doubts and your moments of resistance. You met your guide (hi again). And now you’re officially in the adventure.
Please like this post if you’re still here! (It’s SUPER helpful for me to be able to tell how many people are opening and actually reading.)
Starting tomorrow, we’re fully inside the story. We’ll be working through the beats and pressures that carry your hero through the journey and back again, changed.
Have fun with your one-sentence threshold moment, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Xx Shelly
