Usually, when I think about plots, I’m thinking about conflict.
But I keep running into the term “inciting incidents.” It’s usually a scriptwriting term but I’ve been hearing it more and more in regards to fiction.
Actually, I really like it. It reminds me that there really is a pivotal event in each book that jump starts the plot. It’s the whole reason there’s a story to begin with.
What happens that takes our character out of a boring, ordinary day into an adventure?
In my books, the inciting incident is always a murder.
That’s followed by an inciting reason for my amateur sleuth to get involved. Because if you were an older lady with a comfortable life, why would you choose to get mixed up with a murder investigation? So for my stories, there’s not only the main inciting incident, there’s also an inciting reason for my protagonist to get involved with it.
The inciting incident isn’t always something that’s as shocking or unnatural as a murdered body. It could be an everyday problem that propels the protagonist in a new direction. The protagonist decides to move to the South of France and take up cooking lessons. The inciting incident—a painful divorce. Or it could be any number of things that represent the final straw to the protagonist and makes them act.
If the problem is something the character could put off acting on, then maybe the ante needs to be upped. The problem needs to be intensified. It should be an overwhelming issue for the protagonist that has to be addressed—they need to drop everything for it. It’s the whole point of the story.
When I’m reading a book, I’m ( if reading a modern book and not a classic) looking for the inciting incident to show up pretty quickly. Most publishers want the inciting incident early in the book.
As a writer, though, I do need to have some set up before my murder. If I drop a body on page 1 (which I could do), I still have some work ahead of me. Who are the characters who could have murdered this person? Who is the victim and why should the reader care that they’re dead? All of those things have to be addressed, too. And flashbacks aren’t ideal. So usually I put off the inciting incident just long enough for the reader to get to know the suspects and victim and form an opinion of them.
How strong is your book’s inciting incident? How much set up do you have before introducing it?
Body on page one. Impulsive cop who is personally involved and triggered by the murder. Big and obvious! But that’s the genre.
Elizabeth – I like that term, too! Like you, I write murder mysteries, so for me, inciting incidents usually involve dead bodies. In my WIP, the first one turns up right in the prologue. There are other inciting incidents, too, in my WIP, but that’s the first one. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes, because in my other two books, the body doesn’t turn up until a bit later…
Blending romance with mystery can lead to more than one inciting incident. Often the incident is unknown to my characters, but they get caught up in it and have to figure out why all the bad stuff is happening.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Well, no dead bodies are involved, but one character’s relocation starts it off in chapter one and the pending arrival of said character starts is off for another on about the third page. Hope that’s fast enough.
I like that term. I don’t think I’ve heard it before. It’s action oriented and won’t let me fumble around with things that don’t cut to the chase so to speak.
You point at one of the problems I’m hazzleing with: What should be the motivation for an amateur investigator to get involved in a murder case? He’s risking in his life for something he doesn’t have to bother with. So I need to invent a good motivation, not easy. How do you do that?
Cold As Heaven
Well, I think I have learned quite a lot from writing two manuscripts I have not been able to sell (yet).
In my cosy mystery there is lots of inciting incidents in the first 2 chapters (annoying woman runs into several conflicts and is killed off in chapter 2).
And the protagonists´ motivation: one is a police constable, the other is his fiancé, and they won´t be able to marry until he gets a promotion! You bet she will do quite a lot to help him.
Toby–Perfect!
Margot–Dead bodies…the perfect inciting incident!
Alex–Sounds like it starts off with a bang!
Terry–I like it when the characters are trying to puzzle it all out, too.
Cold As Heaven–Usually something like the sleuth is a suspect, someone *close* to the sleuth is a suspect, the victim was a family member or close friend of the sleuth, the sleuth’s place of business is somehow involved in the case in a negative way, the sleuth discovered the body and felt personally involved that way…something like that. And then there’s just a TOUCH of suspension of disbelief on the reader’s end, too–they know amateur sleuths have just GOT to investigate murders…it’s what they do!
I think in my Cozy I’ve got them down–the same two you mentioned… the murder, and the reason my MC gets involved. I should put some definite thought though, into my other books. My first one, in particular, it is a little fuzzier and I’m not sure a panel would all pick out the same thing (though in my mind it is a job offer)
In three of my books, the meeting of the two main characters incites an incident!
You’re right, Elizabeth. Readers today expect things to heat up faster than in the past. Unless a book is what’s called “literary,” readers want to be hooked on the first page or even the first sentence, depending on the genre. It’s one thing I work on with writers that I’m coaching.
As always, a great post.
Hart–I think a job offer would be an inciting incident for anyone…especially in this economy!
Diane–That sounds like a good one! I think in the romance genre that that would be a common one, too.
Helen–It’s funny because when you read the classics, the inciting incident is frequently farther into the book…not these days!
Jen–I liked the action part of it, too. Conflict seems kind of nebulous sometimes.
I remember reading some literary criticism book in college that described a mystery story as being about “what will have happened.” It was not an interesting book overall, but that theory always clicked with me.
The idea is that a mystery is often about what happens off-screen. The stuff we find out about later. If you think about the inciting incident in terms of that – Christie was really a master of the off-screen inciting incident.
Sure, the main characters would find a body, or be hired or asked to help resolve a puzzle – but the story often really revolved around some event that turns out to be utterly pivotal. (And of course, sometimes those moments would happen on screen, but seem unimportant, but would turn into the puzzle of the story.)
I think understanding both the onscreen inciting incident, and the off screen incidents for the other characters, is a great way to get a sense of the drive of the plot.
Dorte–Love the motivation! That’s a really clever set-up…you’ll be able to do a lot with that.
Reminds me of the hero’s journey – the inciting incident is the call to adventure. Without it, how can the adventure begin?
The Daring Novelist–Yes! That’s definitely the challenge and the thrill of reading and writing mysteries. There’s so much that happens off-stage and we’ve got to sort through it to solve the mystery.
Christie is my hero…spent my teen years reading her books over and over. She really did, as you point out, master that inciting incident. It could be something totally off the wall, but she made it work.
Good point! The other characters are motivated, too…if they aren’t then we’ve got a problem.
Shoshana–Exactly! It’s a more pedestrian way of putting it, I think. :)
I think the term “inciting incident” is what Robert McKee (screenwriting guru) used for the call to adventure. I haven’t read all of McKee’s book STORY, but his chapter on inciting incidents is really very interesting.