A Quick Start Guide To Writing An Inciting Incident

In this post, we define an inciting incident in fiction – with examples. We’ve created a quick start guide to writing an inciting incident.

Read the other posts in our Quick Start series:

1. A Quick Start Guide To Creating Characters
2. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Fantasy
3. A Quick Start Guide For Beating Writer’s Block
4. A Quick Start Guide To Writing For Children
5. A Quick Start Guide To Writing YA Fiction
6. A Quick Start Guide To Writing A Memoir
7. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Descriptions
8. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Romance
9. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Science Fiction
10. A Quick Start Guide To Foreshadowing
11. A Quick Start Guide To Writing An Inciting Incident
12. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Dialogue
13. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Crime Fiction
14. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Emotions
15. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Revenge
16. A Quick Start Guide To Writing First & Last Lines

A Quick Start Guide To Writing An Inciting Incident

Define An Inciting Incident

The inciting incident in a story is the moment when something happens (usually a negative something involving conflict or that causes conflict) that turns your main character’s world upside down. You can set up your story briefly with a normal day for this character. Then we understand what’s at stake when we realise that the next day is different.

In some books, more time is given to this setting up of the protagonist’s ‘ordinary world’. If you want to do this, make sure it is important – and that it adds to characterisation and the plot.

Then we have the moment – a beginning point – where everything changes. It is irreversible. The character knows that something is different. (Use the senses here.) They can no longer ignore it, if that is what they have been doing. This something has consequences for your character and things cannot carry on as they always have.

In hindsight, it is easy to identify. If they were recounting the story, this is where they would begin. This would be an inciting incident.

The character has to decide what they are going to do next. The inciting moment is vital because it gives your protagonist a story goal. This goal creates a series of scenes that you can build into a plot that moves towards an ending that answers the questions posed by this moment.

Orient The Reader

You want to get the reader oriented in the inciting incident.

1. Where are we?
2. What’s going on?
3. Who’s involved?
4. When is it happening?
5. Why is this happening? (If the story needs it. Usually, we discover the why it’s important throughout the story.)

Introduce the characters by giving us their names and telling us where they are. Readers who feel confused go somewhere else.

By Genre

1. In a romance, it is usually when the two lovers meet for the first time.
2. In a detective story, it is when a crime (usually a murder) has been committed and the detective has to solve it.
3. In a thriller, it is when a crime is about to be committed and the protagonist has to try to stop it.
4. In an adventure story, it is when something happens that forces the protagonist to leave home and confront it.
5. In a fantasy, the protagonist is chosen to go on a quest.
6. In a Western, a stranger comes to town.
7. In horror, your protagonist comes face to face with the monster.

(Find out more about different genres here: Fictional Pillars For Writers)

Examples Of Inciting Incidents (some from The Importance of Inciting Moments)

1. In The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Hazel, who is dying of cancer, is sent to a support group by her mother because she believes Hazel is depressed. Hazel’s life changes because of the boy she meets there.
2. In Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, Sylvie has a stillborn baby, and we go back to moments before the birth, again and again, until Ursula is born alive.
3. In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place in the games. She is taken from her home and sent to the Capitol. Will she be able to win?
4. In The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, Theo Decker’s mother is killed in a bomb explosion in a museum. Everything changes for the worse in a moment.
5. In Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Amy Dunne disappears from her home. Her husband, Nick’s life is turned upside down.
6. In The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Tony Curran is murdered. It’s up to The Thursday Murder Club to figure out who killed him.
7. In A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin, John Rebus is in the dock, accused of a crime that could jail him for the rest of his life. The author takes us back in time to find out why.

What Happens After The Inciting Incident?

We want the main character to react. We don’t want them to be frozen or indifferent. We want them to plot a course of action to solve the problem that has been presented by this incident. We don’t want the protagonist to wallow in passive mode, unable to seize control. They must get up and do something.

This where the story starts.

If it’s a good moment, we read on. We now have a plot and the reader has something to follow. We want to find out how they solved the problem, what they faced (include the antagonist here), how they felt, and what they learned about themselves.

The Last Word

Additional Reading:

1. 3 Essential Exercises For Writing Beginnings
2. 13 Ways To Start A Story
3. The Importance Of Inciting Moments
4. The Two Types Of Inciting Moments
5. 5 Secrets To Writing A Strong Inciting Incident
6. How To Write An Epic First Scene
7. How To Write A Beginning And An Ending That Readers Will Never Forget

Happy Writing!

Source for image: Pixabay

by Amanda Patterson
© Amanda Patterson

If you liked this blogger’s writing, you may enjoy:

1. A Quick Start Guide To Foreshadowing
2. Writing Through The Pain – Tips For Memoirists
3. Does Your Character Fight, Freeze, Or Flee?
4. What Is Head-Hopping & Why Should I Avoid It?
5. 4 Ways To Kickstart A Scene
6. Help! I Fell In Love With My Antagonist
7. A Quick Start Guide To Writing Descriptions
8. A Quick Start Guide To Writing A Memoir
9. 37 Ways To Write About Grief
10. 10 Perfect Writing Prompts For Thanksgiving

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