There’s something fascinating about doors.

They’re mysterious. What’s behind them? A new possibility? Or danger? Will they transport you to another time and place? Or close forever, leaving you trapped?

They’re challenging. How do you open them? With a lost key? By solving a riddle? Or by speaking magic words?

They’re a dilemma. Shall I walk through the forbidden doorway? Or pass through the door that I don’t want to open and answer the call to a new adventure?

My favourite doorway moment was in the movie The Labyrinth. Sarah is trapped in a room with no exit, and Hoggle lifts a door from the floor. It can be opened both left and right. One way leads to a closet and the other opens to the exit. Brilliant, Jim Henson!

Great examples of doors that lead to other places are those in the movies The Matrix and The Adjustment Bureau. With the special keys obtained from the Keymaker, Neo can travel to any place in the Matrix, and in the Adjustment Bureau, as long as you’re wearing a special agent hat, you can instantly transport to any place in New York City through any doorway. But whatever you do, don’t turn the handle the wrong way – you’re not allowed to go there!

For me, one of the most riveting stories involving a door is The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton. The princess must decide the fate of her imprisoned lover by telling him which door to choose. Behind one waits a bride and behind the other, a tiger. The story ends without revealing what’s behind the chosen door, and we the audience are left to figure it out. A dilemma becomes a perplexing moral dilemma.

You can safely bet, that sometime, somewhere, in one of my stories you’ll find an intriguing door.