Doors and doorways offer great narrative potential. They may provide new opportunity, freedom, or escape. They may welcome new friends, open on a happy home, or exude warmth. They may be marked forbidden, swallow one in darkness, or reek of death. Are some best left closed?
Writing Prompts for Doors and Doorways
- What do “door habits” say about the mood or atmosphere of a space? Are doors closed and locked or are they open? Are there keep out signs scrawled on desperate, angry signs? Let the doors in your narrative have a little voice.
- Why might one door be locked up tight in a home… keep something in; keep something out; punishment; treasure; weapons; a creature, force, or “pet”?
- What if a doorway was a gateway to several different places, depending on… the time of day; who turned the handle; a code word; which way it is swung; the phase of the moon; the season; or how often it is “fed”?
- What might you accidentally see when you open a door? A secret meeting, an affair, cheating, a deal, a ritual, a pact, the truth, evidence, blood?
- Imagine a door that suddenly appeared one day where there was none before. How would people react? Who would be first to go through it? Who put it there? Where would it go?
- A trap door, attic or cellar hatch, or a panel into a hollow wall may be missed for ages until it is finally found one day by a curious character.
- School would be more interesting if there was a secret door at the back of your locker. What might you find in there?
- Late at night, “the visitors” come out. They have a little door that no one can see in the daylight. Who are they and why do they come here?
- How do you plug a door that goblins keep pouring out of? What can you shore it up with or how can you brace it? Can you post a guard or a watch? Or would it just be more effective to cross the threshold yourself and take them on on the other side?
- A magical door is left open by an elderly wizard who goes to sleep… and never wakes up. What havoc will result and when (if ever) will this conduit of magic be shut?
- How would you react if you opened a door to see someone you thought long dead and gone? A doorway provides great opportunity for abrupt transition like this. Reveal something unexpected as the hinges swing!
- Sometimes a door needs a guardian. Who watches a door in your narrative? A monster, golem, troll, sentinel, soldier, spy?
- Through a doorway, atmosphere can change. How is the mood on the other side of the door? Hostile, warm, frightened, abrasive, bewildered, down, uncertain, nasty, caustic, irreconcilable, distraught, relaxed, dreamy, fun, angry,
Types of Doors and Doorways
- door, doorway, port, way,
- exit, entrance, entry, in-door, out-door, egress, ingress,
- passageway, hall,
- secret door, hidden door, concealed passage, cloaked door, disappearing wall, trick panel,
- portal, gate, aperture,
- threshold, crossing,
- pass, toll, access, route,
- hole, gaping hole, gap, slit, orifice,
- magic portal, magical aura,
- forcefield, shield,
- barn door,
- plank door, board door, slab door, panel door,
- bifold door, accordion door,
- bead curtain, hanging fabric,
- partition, diaphragm, field,
- sliding door,
- trapdoor, access panel
- shuttered door, louvered door,
- pocket door,
- glass door,
- fake door,
- half door,
- pergola, arbor, garden gate,
- back door, side door, postern, kitchen door,
- hatch, escape hatch, hatchway,
- arch, post and lintel,
- dutch door, stable door, half door, split door, divided door,
- port, hatch, door, dog,
- portico, vestibule, anteroom, entryway, porch, colonnade,
- front door, main door, grand entrance,
- heavy oak, mahogany,
- pine, spruce,
- paneled door,
- laminate, solid, hollow, ply,
- screen door, mesh,
- ironwork door,
- fire escape,
- steel, aluminum, iron,
- Tudor door, manor, castle,
- fabric, curtain, lace, beads,
- swinging door, saloon -style,
- also consider: a window,
- marble slap, rollng rock, movable stone,
- doggy door, pet door,
- round door, spiral door, rolling door, garage door, sectional door, folding door, telescoping door, shutter door, glass door, lens door, sealing door,
- forcefield, ectoplasmic field, plasma field, magnetic force, laser field, negative energy gate, protoplasmic barrier,
- plank door, corrugated door, boarded up door, laminated door,
- automatic door, pressure activated door, sensor door,
- gatehouse, barbican, outpost, wall tower,
- coin-operated door, retinal scan door, cardlock door,
- donut hole,
- tiny door, massive door, cupboard door,
- low door, cage door, stable door,
- vault door, safe door, security door, blast door, armoured door, reinforced door,
- sealing door, firedoor, safety door, lab door, medical door, sanitation door,
- airlock, decontamination portal, sterilization door,
- milk door,
- cell door, prison door, jail door, cage door, iron bar door, “the slammer,” lock up,
- side hung, top hung, bat wing,
- hydraulic,
- elevator door, revolving door,
Parts of Doors and Doorways
- post, lintel, jamb, header, transom,
- arch, keystone, blocks, bricks,
- hinge, pin,
- keyhole, key, lock, bolt, bar, key pad, scanner, card swipe, retinal recognition, voice activation, proximity lock,
- bracket, mount,
- bracing, cross bracing, structural supports,
- molding, finish, casing,
- paint, varnish, lacquer,
- wheel, castor, slider,
- window, french window, shutter,
- peephole, sliding window, wicket, slot, opening, hatch, shackle hatch, food hatch, Judas window,
- arrow slit,
- camera, intercom,
- inset doggy door, pet door, mail slot,
- bolts, screws, lag bolt,
- hook and eyelet, chain lock,
- glass, privacy glass, stained glass, mirror, one-way glass,
- decorations, ellipticals, round top, oval window, ironwork, studs, pins, leather facing, paint, molding, Gothic features,
- heraldry, symbols,
- murder hole,
- pillars, columns,
Doors and doorways could be…
- broken, compromised, hanging on the hinges, cracked, split, asunder, crumbling, rotted, precarious, unsafe, shattered,
- open, ajar, half open, slightly open, unsecured, loose, gaping,
- shut, closed, locked, barred, jammed, wedged, fixed, obstructed, stuck, stopped, shuttered,
- boarded up, barricaded, chained, nailed shut, pinned, bolted, shored up, reinforced,
- sealed, welded, glued,
- guarded, protected, shielded,
- etched, adorned, decorated, beautified, aesthetically pleasing,
- graffiti-covered, defaced, vandalized,
- covered over in masonry, brickwork, iron grills, grates, boards, lumber, logs, rubble, trash, panel work, mesh, paint,
- beckoning, urging, inviting, calling, enticing,
- magical, charming, entrancing, beguiling, animated,
- devious, devilish, tricks, traps,
- squeaky, noisy, creaky,
- oiled, smooth, gliding, sliding,
- rectangular, square, oval, circular,
- arched,
- inset, protruding,
- double, single,
- sliding, rolling, wheeled,
- windowed, glass,
- solid core, hollow, full slab, laminated,
- standard, custom,
- circular apertures, irises,
Doors may lead to…
- a room, chamber,
- passage, hallway, entrance, vestibule, drawing room, parlour, living room, hall,
- balcony, platform, ledge, deck, patio, mezzanine, porch, dais, landing,
- darkness, blackness, light, candle light,
- outside, inside, exit,
- stairs, stairwell, elevator, lift, spiral stairs,
- closet, storage room, supply cabinet, storage, pantry,
- dream world, alternate reality, spirit world,
- a trap, trick, puzzle, mystery,
- a tunnel, cave, dungeon, the underground world, burrow, den, lair,
- another world, faerie realm, giant’s hall, magic empire,
- a memory, a recollection, flashback, sense of fear,
- a clandestine meeting space, the underground, secret society, hideout, hidden room, safe room, panic room,
- hope, freedom, liberation,
- imprisonment, a cell, a holding room,
- an office, exam room, interrogation room, meeting room,
Notes and more ideas…
- Make a doorway a transitional device in your story by changing the flavor of the environment. Where one side of the doorway is cool and anxious, the other is warm and relaxed. Spaces have character all their own!
- Opening a door may let luck in or out, and it could be good luck or bad luck.
- Spirits may travel in and out of certain doors. What might embolden or enable them? What might deter them? Garlic?
- Vampires, or other characters, could have trouble with certain types of “thresholds.” Come up with cool backstory about why someone or something cannot cross a particular threshold. Go here for ideas on the undead.
- Throw a curse on a doorway and see what happens. It could be a magic spell, a religious rite, a cult ceremony, a strange wish…
- Doors can get stuck or can be locked either physically or magically or spiritually. What power or contraption might keep a door barred?
- A murder hole is a defensive implement consisting of a trapdoor above a doorway or passage through which defenders can hurl things like rocks, oil, or arrows down on unwanted visitors.