How to Write the Inciting Incident | Novel Writing Advice

hey guys it's Ellen Brock novel editor today I'm going to talk about the inciting incident I get a lot of questions from writers about the inciting incident where it should be placed in the story and how they can know if it's happening too early or too late so today I'm going to go over two techniques for the inciting incident one is to place the inciting incident very early within the first few paragraphs or the first few pages and the second technique is to include the inciting incident later on in the story a few scenes or a few chapters into your novel if you're having difficulty identifying the inciting incident look for the point in your story where everything changes this is the point where the character gets stressed into the main storyline if the inciting incident didn't happen your character would have just stuck to the status quo so if you're having difficulty telling between two different points in your novel which one is the inciting incident look for the one that absolutely has to happen or the story wouldn't have gotten started in the first place a great example of putting the inciting incident at the beginning of the novel is among the hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix in this book we meet Luke in the opening scene he's the main character he's outside a tree falls in the distance his mom calls him to come inside and he thinks to himself that he's never going to be allowed outside again maybe never as long as he lives so even though we don't really know what's going on at this point we get a strong sense that things have changed for Luke and if you were to read the whole novel you would know that that was the inciting incident that set in motion the entire events of the novel so putting the inciting incident first is a great option for books that either don't need a lot of setup or books that would have a pretty boring or bland setup if the inciting incident wasn't in the novel at the beginning by putting the inciting incident at the beginning you can get the reader interested so then if you need to go back and explain some more mundane or less interesting descriptions the reader is already invested in the story another good example of putting the inciting incident at the beginning of the novel is in little star by John Evita linked fost in this novel the main character Leonard is out looking for mushrooms when he stumbles upon a live abandoned infant in a plastic bag while Leonard has a goal in this novel before the inciting incident he's out picking mushrooms his goal is pretty simple because we only need stay engaged for a couple of pages before the infant is introduced now the second technique that I want to talk about today is when the inciting incident happens later on in the novel and in this case the character is going to need a more complex goal something to keep the reader engaged prior to the inciting incident in another novel by Ling fost let me in the inciting incident isn't introduced for several chapters but he still manages to keep us engaged and excited about the story in the meantime meet the main character Oscar as he's struggling to cope with bullying and fantasies about violence and getting back at his bullies and while Linkous spends a lot of time on this bullying early on all of it remains relevant throughout the novel we're not giving conflicts that are irrelevant to the story or things that could just be tossed out and the story could just start later but happens in the setup prepares the reader for what to expect and validates why he befriends this vampire later on at the inciting incident we get a sense of his desperation for connection his interest in violence and all of that leads into the ultimate friendship that starts off the events of the novel if you're considering a longer gap between the beginning of the novel and the inciting incident it's important to keep in mind that in that gap you'll want to convey the emotional motivation of your character as well as the basis of their character arc this will let you know that the conflicts and the events that are happening before the inciting incident are relevant and are valuable to the story another technique that is very helpful if the inciting incident happens later on is to provide clues to the reader that lead up towards the inciting incident Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling is a great example of this she uses a lot of clues to keep the reader engaged until the inciting incident when Hagrid shows up and tells Harry that he's a wizard prior to that we get a lot of clues that Harry has some magical and interesting abilities and that it's going to lead somewhere the letters in particular give us a sense that someone's trying to contact him something is about to happen and that's really what you want to create when the inciting incident happens late you want the reader to have a sense that is building and that something is about to happen this will help to keep the reader engaged in the story so things don't get boring what you don't want to do is create an opening that feels drawn-out that feels like the inciting incident is delayed for no particular reason interestingly this technique can be used even if the inciting incident happens before the start of the novel Stephen King's misery is a great example of this Paul Sheldon the main character gets into a car wreck and he's being taken care of by his crazed number-one fan Annie even though we meet him after he's already under her care and he wakes up he doesn't really have a sense of what happened and the reader also doesn't fully understand what occurred for several scenes so even though there are lots of clues to keep the reader engaged Paul discusses how he thinks that there's something not quite right with her that she seems a little bit off and there's a lot of foreshadowing that something bad might happen or that she might be unstable we aren't given a clear picture immediately but we're left engaged by that question of what actually occurred so even though the inciting incident happened before the story even started we don't know it right at the beginning of the novel it's also important to keep in mind that those Clues are there for the reader not for the character so this technique still works in first-person if you have a character that's withholding or secretive about what occurred this thing about jellyfish by Allie Benjamin is a great example of this the first person narrator Suzy experienced the death of her best friend before the start of the novel but we don't actually learn that her best friend died until page 13 but were given a lot of clues she talks about the bad thing that happened and she expresses a lot of concern about life she stares talk about heartbeats and how some people don't get as many heartbeats as other people so we get this sense that something happened and that somebody probably died but we don't learn the details until page 13 including clues that hit at the inciting incident as well as emotional struggles that point towards the character arc and the motivation helps to keep the reader engaged as well as to establish important elements of the novel so while the inciting incident does not need to happen at the of the novel it's important to take into consideration that if you do delay the inciting incident you'll need to create a steady stream of clues or foreshadowing to keep the reader invested and excited about the story and you'll need to create an emotional investment in the character by demonstrating their emotional motivation or the basis of their character arc I really hope this video gave you some ideas about how you might want to handle your inciting incident I will be back on Wednesday with a video about opening hooks and how you can create a first chapter that really sucks the reader into the story so make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any future videos I'm going to be uploading new videos Monday Wednesday and Friday throughout August I'll also be hosting a free first page critique on my blog if you want to come check that out you can consider submitting your work for that happy writing guys

Channel: Ellen Brock

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Keywords: writing, novel, inciting incident, how to, ellen brock, examples, writer, editor, creative writing, opening, first page, hook, structure, structuring, method, approach, technique, help, book, fiction

Id: 1OMDq_WKNuc

Length: 7min 18sec (438 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 30 2018