Inciting Incident

Question 1

The inciting incident is …

Answer 1

a ball of chaos that spins into the story and knocks the protagonist’s life out of balance.

Question 2

2 Categories of Inciting Incidents

Answer 2

1. Causal
2. Coincidental

Question 3

Causal

Answer 3

An active choice by an AVATAR. Examples include a wife leaving her husband, a man enlisting in the Marines, a dentist molesting a patient he’s put under anesthesia.

Question 4

Coincidental

Answer 4

Something unexpected, random or accidental happens. Examples include a poor man winning the lottery, an unexpected typhoon, a piano falling out of a window and killing a man’s dog.

Question 5

3 Placements of Inciting Incidents

Answer 5

1. Immediate
2. Delayed
3. Off-page

Immediate – At the very beginning of the UNIT OF STORY. This immediately hooks the reader into the action but forces them to quickly acclimate to the ALTERNATE WORLD.
Delayed – Later in the UNIT OF STORY (though still towards the beginning). This immerses the reader in the ALTERNATE WORLD before having to process the inciting incident.
Off-page – Before the UNIT OF STORY so the reader begins in medias res — in the middle of things. This increases the narrative drive by dropping the reader in the middle of the story, but requires more work to acclimate to the ALTERNATE WORLD and events.

Question 6

4 Rules of the Global Inciting Incident

Answer 6

1. Genre Conventions
2. Create Imbalance
3. Invisible Elements
4. Point to the End

Question 7

Rule 1. Genre Conventions

Answer 7

There are GENRE OBLIGATORY MOMENTS that dictate the global inciting incident a story must have. A CRIME STORY begins with the discovery of a body or other inciting crime. A LOVE STORY begins with a lovers meet moment. An ACTION STORY begins with an attack or the threat of death.

Question 8

Rule 2. Create Imbalance

Answer 8

The inciting incident must knock the protagonist’s life out of balance. The imbalance is so big that it forces the protagonist to take steps to restore equilibrium.

Question 9

Rule 3. Invisible Elements

Answer 9

There must be an element of the inciting incident that the protagonist does not fully understand. The protagonist underestimates the impact it will have on their life along with the change required to set their life back in order.

Question 10

Rule 4. Point to the End

Answer 10

The inciting incident must promise and connect to the ending of the story. The ending of the story must be both inevitable and surprising in the context of the inciting incident.

Question 11

How do you identify the Inciting Incident?

Answer 11

The inciting incident is found by locating the event which knocks the protagonist’s life out of balance. This event must be so big that the protagonist has to change the course of action they were following before in order to deal with this event.

The inciting incident can be both positive, such as a job opportunity in a PERFORMANCE STORY, or negative, such as getting stranded on an island in an ACTION SURVIVAL STORY.