How To: Choose an Inciting Incident to Start a Novel

There are countless ways to start a novel, and some are better than others. Depending on the book, an opening can be fast or slow, subtle or explosive, and either can be appropriate. As an observation, however, I can say that we're a bit past the age of slow, subtle beginnings that have time to flower at their leisure. For the most part, an audience expects to be grabbed from the very first word.

This being so, as an author, you can't just start a novel any which way. It has to be specific, and exciting, and it has to wholeheartedly grab your reader and make them yours for the remainder of the book. An inciting incident is the quickest way to grab their attention. The right inciting incident will elevate their reding experience from good to amazing. How do you choose one to start your book off with a bang? That's what I'll explore in this post.

What is an Inciting Incident?

To incite is to 'stir up' and in this case, to stir up action. It's an incident because it's an event- something is happening that lets the reader jump right into the action. In stories that start with one, the case is often that without the inciting incident, the story wouldn't exist. That is, without that particular event, life would go on as normal and there would be nothing to talk about.

An inciting incident is an urgent interruption to a character's life. The character is forced to react, and away we go.

Famous examples of inciting incidents:

In The Hunger Games, the inciting incident is Katniss's sister randomly being chosen to fight till the death in The Hunger Games, which leads Katniss to volunteer as tribute in her place. This singular event takes us into the story as we know it- specifically through Katniss' eyes. If this had not happened, she and her sister would have presumably gone on with their regular and rather unnoteworthy lives.

Why do you want to start with an Inciting Incident?

Sometimes when we talk about writing and the many aspects of writing, it can be easy to forget that at the core, all we're doing is telling a story. All the advice that exists on writing is for the sole purpose of trying to make sure that it's a good story that we're telling. Now, keeping this in mind, we can deduce that opening a story with an inciting incident is to make the story more interesting and exciting- it's to hook your reader right from the start.

Show don't Tell

I recently wrote a post on what it means to Show, don't Tell, and why it's such great writing advice that is endlessly repeated. An inciting incident is an example of a good tactic to facilitate 'showing' at the very beginning of your book. That's because 'showing' is about putting the reader right into the action and giving them the sense that they're right there in the thick of it all. 'Showing' uses active, present tense language to make the action feel like it's here, now. This is the same purpose served by an inciting incident.

Let's look at an example:

In the Disney movie How to Train Your Dragon, the story opens with the main character, Hiccup, describing the peaceful Viking town of Berk. Then, the dragons show up and the entire town is thrown into disarray as they try to protect themselves from the 'pests'. In this scene, we learn that life is usually peaceful, but we are also suddenly thrown into it being disrupted and the story is off and running. We also learn about the Nightfury, whom Hiccup has shot down, although nobody believes him. This can be seen as a secondary inciting incident, as this is the dragon that he famously trains- which is the main plot of the story

This is a great example of both an inciting incident that has action happening right now opening the story. As the audience, we're excited and can't wait to find out what happens next.

Pro Tip: Start with the moments just before the inciting incident

An inciting incident, by definition, is an event that starts things off. It sets off a sequence of events. These events are likely to be out of the ordinary for the characters we're being introduced to. At some point, the narrative will have to show the reader both how and why these events are out of the ordinary, as this builds stakes. An easy way to do this is by introducing us briefly to the regular layout of our character's lives at the beginning, right before the inciting incident changes it. In this way we know to recognize and thus care about the change. This will also help with a more natural sense of pacing so the reader doesn't feel like they have to suddenly start off running. Unless of course, that is the intention.

Famous examples of this at play:

In The Hunger Games, we meet Katniss in the hours before the inciting incident. We get to go out hunting with her, we get to feel the calm and simplicity of her life. This puts us on high alert when we encounter the inciting incident because we know just how different this is from her regular life. This is thus a great device to draw a reader into the story and to ensure that they care about the events that take place and how they affect the characters. By the time Katniss volunteers as tribute, we care that she's leaving her peaceful life, and so naturally, I'm rooting for her.

How to choose an incident

Ask yourself these 3 questions to make sure your inciting incident will work.

1. Is it interesting?

We're trying to hook a reader. Your inciting incident needs to accomplish this above anything else. So, it's important to make sure that your incident is interesting. If you were sitting on a train and overheard one person tell the other about your inciting incident, would you sharpen your ears to listen more and find out what happened next? If the answer is no, you have work to do. Remember, readers are just people like you. So, if it wouldn't capture your attention, it likely won't capture your audience's attention either.

2. Does it tie into an important theme for later in the story?

An inciting incident is a great place to put important information for later on in the story. If something about a certain character is going to be central to their story arc, it can be wise to start the breadcrumbs at the very beginning. The reader won't know it yet, but when they figure it out, it will be so satisfying to learn that the answer was there all along.

For example, let's say you're writing a spy thriller where the objective is to find the killer and, in this case, the murder weapon. You could start the story with a character writing a letter. Then, in the end, you can reveal that the murder weapon was none other than the pen they used to write the letter at the very beginning. Things like this always feel like little gifts to the reader, but only when done well and seamlessly. If your story allows for it, consider using your book's opening to play an important part in the themes that will play out throughout the story, all the way to the end.

3. Does it reveal something important about your character(s)?

Tied to the point discussed above, an inciting incident is also a great place to reveal important information about a character. As you will be writing a scene that is likely active, because you want it to be exciting and interesting enough to hook the reader, you will naturally be showing (and not telling) the reader something. Why not show them a key trait of the character as well? Better yet, why not show a secret trait of the character, one that they will be left wondering about as the story unfolds- just make sure you tie back into it when the time is right so it makes sense and isn't random. Doing this can make the reader feel as though they're in on the secret that the other characters don't know, and this automatically makes the story more interesting because it creates stakes (depending on the secret): When will the other characters find out? How will the other characters react when they find out?

For example:

Suppose you write a duplicitous character who the other characters trust, but whom you want the reader to know is untrustworthy. You can do this by showing their deceitful nature in the inciting incident. You can, for example, show us the character hiding a precious diamond ring, right before they join the party and console the character who just lost it. They can even go so far as to help them look for it- never finding it, of course. Now, when the rest of the story unfolds, the other characters will discover this person's true nature and the reader will get the satisfaction of having known it all along.

Conclusion

An inciting incident is a great way to start a story as it's a way to hook the reader from the very beginning. It's a way to set the tone of your book as it could be exciting, tragic, mysterious, or anything else. Each of those starts would be suitable for a different kind of book. Knowing what makes a good inciting incident is important to understand, so you can use it to enhance your storytelling.

I hope this post was useful in outlining the elements I think are necessary for choosing a great inciting incident.

As always, sending my best and hoping your writing is going well.

Talk soon,

Nonjabulo