![]() In most love stories, it takes the form of a “meet cute,” a moment when the main couple first meet and have an emotional connection. Other stories have events that create positive movement. In the same way, for Mark Watney, getting stabbed by an antenna and then stranded on Mars was just the first problem in a long series of problems. For John McClane, the protagonist, terrorists coming to his wife's Christmas party was hardly a positive thing. Some stories have events that begin movement in a negative direct, like Die Hard or The Martian. Stories come in many different shapes, called story arcs (read our complete story arc guide here).The inciting incident's job is to begin the movement of the plot along the actual story arc, whether up or down. Inciting Incidents Can Be Positive or Negative, But They Are Always Interruptions “A character who wants something and is willing to go through conflict to get it.” Here’s Donald Miller’s definition of story in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: Number the quarter-sections themselves 2, 4, 6 and 8.ĭid you spot the inciting incident in there? ![]() Starting from the 12 o’clock position and going clockwise, number the 4 points where the lines cross the circle: 1, 3, 5 and 7. Here's how Dan Harmon describes the basic structure of the Story Circle:ĭraw a circle and divide it in half vertically. There are many things to like about this structure, which on the surface seems perfect for episodic stories like television sitcoms and also film series. Some plot structure gurus say that the character's desire or need is enough for an inciting incident.ĭan Harmon, the screenwriter and creator of the show Community, developed a framework called the Story Circle theory. The Inciting Incident Is More Than a Desire or Need While it may require several scenes to set up, those prior scenes are usually part of the exposition. It is technically only a moment or a single event, and this moment is almost always set into a single scene. In most cases, the story starts with exposition, but the inciting incident is the second element and the moment when the plot begins. Rising Action/Progressive Complications.Where the Inciting Incident Fits Into Dramatic Structureīefore we go into more detail on what the inciting incident is and share examples of how it’s found in stories, let’s talk about the six elements of dramatic structure that are found in every effective story. We'll talk more about how this unexpected event works in creative writing and screenwriting, but first, let's look at how the inciting incident fits into the dramatic structure. The inciting incident does not need to occur in chapter one, like the hook. The only term I don't think is helpful is the hook, since it combines the inciting incident, which holds a structural place within every story, with the hook, a device used to capture the reader's attention in the first pages of a story. The Problem ( A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller).The Hook ( Seven Point Story Structure by Dan Wells).The Call to Adventure ( The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell).Other story structure frameworks call this inciting incident by different names, including: But the goal is always created by the inciting incident. Depending on the plot type (which you can read more about here), this story might be an internal goal or an external goal. This unexpected disturbance also complicates the character as they attempt to achieve a scene goal, or want, and that character will spend the rest of the story attempting to achieve it.Įxamples of the goal might be to escape a terrifying natural disaster, to get revenge for the murder of a loved one, to get together with the romantic interest, or even to explore a new worldview opened up by the event. In other words, a situation comes out of nowhere, throws the main character into turmoil, and creates a problem that they have to spend the rest of the plot trying to solve.Īs Robert McKee says, “The inciting incident radically upsets the balance of forces in your protagonist's life.” This begins the story's movement, either in a positive way or negative, that culminates in the climax. ![]() The inciting incident is an unexpected event in a story that upsets the character's status quo.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |