Let’s see, over the past hour I’ve loaded the dishwasher, checked my email, fed the dog, checked my email, browned hamburger, checked my email, made rice, searched for chocolate (none!), again checked email….
But see, I’m working. Really. What I’m doing is searching for my hero’s inciting incident. I know what has to happen later on in the scene, what I hope to accomplish, but I need something powerful, something to really pinpoint how he’s feeling at this very moment, to give the reader a glimpse into his story world, and offer enough of a motivation to under gird his next step.
What I need is…a BANG!
How do you determine how and when to start your story world? Do you start it on a calm day, set the scene, and then hit him with a bang? Or, do you start him in mid-run, just as he’s being chased down the street? Or, should you start AFTER the event, when he’s trying to figure out what to do? And, do you start with something physical, or something emotional? Bad news, or bad event?
Here are the determinations that go into choosing my inciting incidents, and starting with a BANG:
Believability – Do you need to build in sympathy, or characterization for the reader for the inciting incident to have impact, or believability for the reader? How understandable will your inciting incident be without background? I recently saw the intriguing movie, Jumper. Because of the bizarreness of the phenomenon that happens to him, the view is given background to the story before he actually Jumps, so we understand what happens. However, the inciting incident starts right away by building sympathy for the character before the actual event happens. Even longer is the wait for the inciting incident to Jodie Foster’s vigilante movie, The Brave One. We need to care about her and her fiancé before the I.I. really makes its impact. However, the I.I. for Fools Gold takes place immediately – the sinking of Matthew’s boat while he’s searching for treasure. We don’t have to know his character to feel sympathy for a guy whose boat sinks. How universal is your inciting incident, and how much character sympathy do you need to build before it will have an impact on your reader?
Action – generally, the higher the action, the closer it should be to the beginning of the book. If you have high action, but it takes a while for the story to build to it, then you are wasting precious pages. In my book In Sheep’s clothing, the actual I.I. doesn’t start until chapter 2! Yes, I know! So…I solved that by clipping out that scene and putting it into the prologue, and then starting the story 24 hours earlier in chapter 1. Then, when I got to chapter 2, and that scene, I told it from a different pov, thus making it just as interesting. If, however, it’s a slower, less active I.I. you may have to build in the impact (by focusing on characterization) of the I.I. in order for it have resonance.
Need – all stories to some extent are about a character’s emotional journey, and thus, the character starts out with a need. What can you build into that inciting incident that reveals that need? For example, in my inciting incident for Rafe, I build in his need to impress his family, and thus, the reason why he rides the bull even when he feels something is wrong. In Get Cozy, Josey, (my third first person funny book about Josey and her adventures), Josey’s need is for a house with a backyard for her children, thus, she agrees to go camping with her husband so he’ll agree to move back to America. Discovering your hero’s need will help you determine what kind of I.I. to put into the story.
Genre – certain genres demand different inciting incidents. First, here’s a caveat – EVERY heroes journey starts in Normal Day. It starts with a glimpse of what his normal life is like, what his normal activities are, what his normal motivations and goals are. However, where you work that normalcy in differs by genre. For example, Fantasy requires just a bit more story world set up, a little more NORMAL day life for a character. A suspense, however, often starts with some high-action example of what is at stake, and then flows into normal. A romance might start at a point where the heroine meets the hero, and then spiral back to her normal day, or might even have a mix of normalcy inside the inciting incident, so that we don’t even realize that it’s the blip (or bloke) that will change her world. Look at other books in your genre – where does the inciting incident occur? Page 1? 3? 5? 10? This is a good guide to how you might structure your book.
Every inciting incident will be specific to your book and your character, but determining how and when to put it in the book takes careful consideration of your BANG.
Tomorrow, we’ll see what kind of elements go into an inciting incident, regardless of what genre you write, and we’ll post the MBT pick for the I.I. this week!
If you are willing to help your fellow voices and want to share your I.I. with the MBT readers, send me the first page (no more than 200 words) to booktherapy@susanmaywarren.com. My MBT team will pick their favorite and post in on Friday (and the winner will receive a $10 Amazon gift card!) So – send me your scenes!