Ch 1: Inciting Incidents
Tf is an inciting incident?
Stories start because of, usually, inciting incidents. There are the crazy ones like “something CRAZY just happened, killed mY MOTHER, andFLIPPED my UNIVERSE BY 180 DEGREES” so like, YA books.
ex: Clary Fray turns 18, her mom is kidnapped, she’s thrust into a world of magic.
ex: Katniss Everdeen’s sister has her name drawn in the reaping, she’s forced to volunteer.
Both these things happen in the span of a chapter.
There are better other stories that start slower. Basically what they do is set up three things about to mc’s life before the story starts:
The status quo
Everyday life
Their comfort zone
That trio deserves its own chapter on what tf it is and what you do w it, but in short, the status quo is their place in society, everyday life is the normal day-to-day for them, and we all know what a comfort zone is. It’s a good way to let us know how the story is pushing boundaries or even breaking them.
ex: Harry Potter is just trying to chill and stay out of trouble for the summer because his fuckin evil eye relatives are shit, but snakes keep talking to him, glass keeps disappearing, and uncle Vernon goes insane from letters and owls— and then he’s blamed for all this shit!
ex: Percy Jackson goes to a school for delinquents and has to put up with Nancy Bobafett’s kleptomaniac ass, a sword pen he’s told is not a sword pen, his algebra teacher trying to kill him, and then everyone treating him like he’s crazy, while his bestie Grover (the worst secret keeper of all time) does nothing but act suspicious as h e l l
And THEN:
ex: Hagrid shows up to tell Harry he’s a wizard
ex: Percy, his mom, and Grover make a break for camp half-blood while being pursued by the Minotaur
Voila! The inciting incidents of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter.
Okay, so now you know what inciting incidents are, but like, why tf should you care?
Emotional investment in the mc is involved
(warning: negative opinions on the mortal instruments ahead)
Of the two examples above, I choose to rag on the mortal instruments, mostly because I don’t like the books and think the hunger games is actually a fine piece of literature.
Okay, so Clary Fray— what the fuck do I know about her? The audience knows exactly three things about Clary by the time shit hits the fan: she’s got the usual workings of a YA protagonist, it’s her 18th birthday, and she’s got a single mom. And I don’t give a damn when said mom is captured. Why should I? It’s just a story.
Side swing to Percy Jackson. Now, we do know him. He’s a 12 year old boy who’s life is kinda shitty with a great single mom and something otherworldly about him. And when his mom is kidnapped? I give a damn! Give Sally back bitch! You think this is just a story!?
Inciting incidents directly influence pacing
Your story’s pace should match how fast you revved your story telling engine.
The YA book inciting incident: fast and effective. Problem is, if you start fast, you gotta make like sonic the hedgehog and constantly throw shit at your characters. Slow down and your reader loses interest.
I personally think that an example of this done right is the hunger games, because while everything starts in a chapter, I feel like the rest of the events of the book slot together nicely. They all have, more or less, the same kind of emotional weight.
If you started slow, then take your time. I mean, cool shit better happen eventually, but I’m just as interested in reading about their summer vacation in between bigger events.
Do I have to care about this?
That’s the beauty of writing. You don’t have to write shit. Lord of the Rings doesn’t have a single inciting incident in it, too much shit has gone down to peg one thing.
Or just write whatever you want on Wattpad, someone will come along and make it into a god forsaken movie eventually.
-Red













