Introduction

Every story needs a kick-off event that tells the reader why the story starts and why it’s being told. I used to think the term inciting incident was just a buzzword for the writing community, but it turned out that it’s a critical moment that hooks your readers more than any amazing technology or magic system can. It’s critical to hook your reader early because it affects the way they read the rest of your story. Think of the following inciting incidents and how those stories have impacted the rest of the story.

• Harry Potter receiving his letter from Hogwarts.
• The murder of Bruce Wayne’s Parents.
• The shark attack from Jaws.

Did you notice that these don’t have to be highly complicated statements? This is because people remember the straight forward moments of the story. The inciting incident is often what people remember most because without it, the story we’re about to be told wouldn’t exist. It also gives the reader a jumping off point that they too can watch out for in their life. How many of you are still waiting for your letter to Hogwarts? The inciting incident gives your readers hope for something better, a path to resolve issues, or what to do and not to do when in danger. There’s a lot of language that gets thrown around with inciting incidents, so let’s clear some of that up.

Background and Context

Where the inciting incidents are the events or situations that begin the main plot, they can often be mistaken for the hook to the story. I even referred to it as a hook necessary early in the story. In reality, the inciting incident is a secondary hook. The true hook gets your readers to open to page one and keep reading. Where there’s a grey area, let’s look at some quick definitions.

Inciting Incident Definitions

This is how I look at Inciting Incident: The inciting incident is an event that disrupts the protagonist’s status quo and sets the story in motion. It usually occurs early in the narrative and serves as a catalyst for the unfolding plot. There are other definitions you can find though.

• Inciting Incident from John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story
  • An event from the outside that causes the hero to come up with a goal and take action.
  • It’s a small step, except for one thing: it connects need and desire.
• Incite from Webter’s New World Ditionary
  • “to urge to action; rouse”
• Inciting Incident according to MasterClass
  • “The inciting incident of a story is the event that sets the main character or characters on the journey that will occupy them throughout the narrative. Typically, this incident will upset the balance within the main character’s world.”

All of these examples show that the inciting incident encourages action and requires a change because it will change the main character’s world. The hook, however, initially captures a reader’s attention.

The Hook

The hook is the very first element of your story, designed to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to keep reading. It’s often a compelling sentence, a question, a vivid description, or an intriguing action that piques curiosity. The hook is all about making a strong first impression. Let’s look at some comparisons to lock in this understanding.

• “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien:
  • Hook: Bilbo Baggins is visited by Gandalf and a group of dwarves who invite him on an adventure.
  • Inciting Incident: Bilbo decides to join the dwarves on their quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug.
• “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown:
  • Hook: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to the Louvre Museum to solve a murder mystery.
  • Inciting Incident: Langdon discovers a cryptic message left by the victim, leading him on a thrilling chase to uncover a historical conspiracy.
• “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green:
  • Hook: Hazel Grace Lancaster meets Augustus Waters at a cancer support group.
  • Inciting Incident: Hazel and Augustus form a deep connection and decide to embark on a journey to meet their favorite author.

Understanding the inciting incident is crucial, but knowing when and where to place it within your story is equally important. Let’s explore the timing and placement of the inciting incident to ensure it has the maximum impact on your narrative.

Timing and Placement

Our culture has become so accustomed to story that we recognize when the timing and placement of certain things are off. You may not always realize it, but if you’ve ever felt like a beginning was dragging on, you’ve had enough of the world-building, or the book is looking like nothing is actually going to happen. Often, this means that the inciting incident is late. Timing and placement of your inciting incident will vary by book, but it often appears between the 10-15% mark. But let’s look at a few important factors for the timing and placement of your story. First, you’ll want to assess how an early placement or a delayed gratification will impact your story.

Early Placement vs. Delayed Gratification

Introducing the inciting incident early in the story can grab readers’ attention immediately and set the plot in motion quickly. Suzanne Collins does this in The Hunger Games where Katniss Everdeen volunteers for the Hunger Games when her sister is drawn in the reaping. In my copy of The Hunger Games, this happens on page 22/374. This places the inciting incident at about the 5% mark. Way earlier than most books tell you, but it worked. So let this be the first reminder that the 10%-15% mark is a recommendation. The early placement of the inciting incident comes because enough of the world has been established already. District 12’s hardships are established and the next major part of the world is the Hunger Games themselves. It also shows that this story is going to be fast-paced, with small sections as respite. The placement of the inciting incident prepares readers for the story to come. Now, this won’t work in every story, so let’s look at delayed gratification and how that impacted the story.

Delaying the inciting incident allows readers to fully immerse themselves in the story before being jolted out of the normal world with the protagonist. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In this classic novel, the inciting incident occurs approximately a quarter of the way through the story, which is significantly later than the typical 10-15% mark often recommended for novels. In The Great Gatsby, the inciting incident is when Jay Gatsby, finally makes his appearance. This delayed introduction serves several purposes:

1. It builds anticipation and intrigue around Gatsby’s character.
2. It allows readers to become familiar with other key characters like Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan.
3. It mirrors the curiosity and anticipation felt by the characters themselves about the mysterious Gatsby.

This delayed inciting incident works effectively because Fitzgerald uses the earlier chapters to establish the setting, develop the other characters, and create an air of mystery around Gatsby. By the time Gatsby appears, readers are fully immersed in the world of the novel and eager to meet the enigmatic figure they’ve heard so much about. It’s worth noting that while delayed inciting incidents can be effective when handled skillfully, they are generally more challenging to pull off successfully. 

As you can see, the placement and timing will vary by story, or writing style. The goal is to make it make sense for your story. I’ve built a table to help you work through your own considerations of Inciting incident timing and placement.

CONSIDERATIONS	EARLY PLACEMENT	DELAYED GRATIFICATION
Genre Expectations	Action/Thriller: Readers expect immediate action and excitement. The inciting incident should occur early to hook the audience.	Literary Fiction: Readers are often more interested in the characters and themes. The inciting incident might be more subtle or delayed to allow for deeper exploration.
Building Necessary Context	Provides a clear direction for the story from the beginning, but may sacrifice some depth.	Allows for a richer backstory and context, but risks losing the reader’s interest if the buildup is too slow.
Character Introduction	Characters are introduced in the context of the inciting incident, which can make them more dynamic and immediately relevant.	Characters can be developed more thoroughly before the main conflict, allowing readers to form stronger connections with them.
World-Building	The world is introduced alongside the inciting incident, which can be exciting but may feel rushed.	Provides more time to establish the setting and background, making the world feel more immersive.
Pacing	Keeps the story moving quickly, which can be thrilling but may not allow for much depth.	Allows for a slower pace, which can be more thoughtful but risks losing momentum.
Balancing Tension and Information	Tension is introduced early, keeping readers engaged but may not leave much room for buildup.	Tension can build gradually, creating a more suspenseful atmosphere but requires careful pacing to maintain interest.
Use Forshadowing Effectively	Foreshadowing can be used to hint at the upcoming conflict, creating anticipation.	Foreshadowing can be more subtle and spread out, adding layers of meaning and depth to the story.

Elements of Effective Inciting Incidents

While we can place our inciting incident as best we can, it also needs to be an effective one. There are a few things that make up an effective inciting incident. There should be some kind of change and disruption to the protagonist’s life but also reflect the possibility of character agency. As in real life, there are things that change with or without our control, and your protagonist may be thrust into the story problem against their will.

Change and Disruption

An effective inciting incident should introduce a significant change or disruption to the protagonist’s life. The change or disruption can vary in scale and will impact the character in different ways.

• Scale of Disruption
  • Major Life Changes: The major life change inciting incident takes the character is a dramatic change like a death, a job loss, or a major revelation. These are the events that bring the retired detective out of their hermit lifestyle, the start of a war in the protagonists homeland, or a new ability/understanding that makes it impossible to go back to the old life. Think Harry Potter finding out he’s a wizard, that completely changed his life and thrust him into a story.
  • Subtle Shifts: These are viewed as small changes, but remaining impactful. A new neighbor could move in next door, or a minor accident could lead to bigger consequences. I like to think of the film, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” because the one thing that kicked off the entire story is a missing negative from a film roll. It’s so small that someone could have passed off as nothing, but the impact and how it changes Walter Mitty’s life makes it impactful. If you’d like a literary example, look to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. The subtle shift is Mr. Bingley moving into Netherfield Park, bringing Mr. Darcy with him.
• Personal vs. Global Impact
  • Personal Impact: The change directly affects the protagonist’s personal life, such as a breakup or a betrayal. Othello by William Shakespeare is an example of betrayal as the inciting incident. When Lago feels betrayed by Othello for promoting Cassio over him, he decides to manipulate Othello that his wife is unfaithful.
  • Global Impact: These situations are often associated with natural disasters, war, or political upheaval. In Outland Dennis E. Taylor uses the natural disaster of Yellowstone erupting to change the character’s lives while also impacting the world.

Balancing character-level and larger-scale conflicts are important to create a rich and layered narrative. The goal is to keep your scale aligned with the impact. Mr. Bingley moving in nearby is less likely to affect the world. In Pride and Prejudice the book is about the people and their interactions. You could completely change the story and make Mr. Bingley’s move a global impact if you change almost the entire book and how that impacts the world. But the Global impact stories are more often than not going to align with the major life changes. Harry Potter eventually goes on to impact the entire wizarding world, and our own muggle world though the muggles never knew.

Character Agency

Character agency plays a large part in stories and their inciting incident’s success. One misconception I had was that a character driven story means that everything is completely caused by the character. Instead there are different impacts on character agency and story. Your inciting incident may or may not be directly connected to the protagonist. Often, your protagonist isn’t going to be able to kick off a natural disaster. The type of character and their agency in the situation they face impacts what will make your inciting incident successful.

When crafting your inciting incident with character agency in mind, it’s crucial to determine whether your protagonist is active or passive. An active protagonist directly contributes to the events that set the story in motion, making them a key factor in the inciting incident. Luke Skywalker finds Leia’s message in Star Wars, and this starts his adventure with the Rebel Alliance. These active moments often appear as the call to adventure that can either be accepted outright or rejected until the protagonist is thrust into the main story.

A passive protagonist in relation to the inciting incident is one who is thrust into the story problem without a choice. In my book, Extoria, Bo and Jared are kidnapped and forced into a new world and the main plot without the ability to say no. Another example is the inciting incident in Dune by Frank Herbert. Paul doesn’t choose to go to Arrakis; instead, his family is obligated to move there, drawing them into a world and story that wouldn’t have happened without their presence.

Whether your protagonist is active or passive, it’s crucial to remember that their choices are a vital part of the story. Character choices drive development, plot, and the audience’s engagement with the protagonist. How they face the inciting incident shows their reaction to new challenges or changes in their life. Even passive protagonists influence the plot progression through their choices, creating unique twists and turns. For more insights on how character actions impact the story, check out this post.

Writing Exercise

1. et a timer for 5 minutes:
   • Write down three different potential inciting incidents for a story
   • For each one, note whether it would be an early placement or delayed gratification
   • Mark whether the protagonist would be active or passive in each scenario
2. Set a timer for 5 minutes:
   • Choose one of your inciting incidents
   • Write a brief scene (about 250 words) showing the moment of disruption
   • Focus on both the external change and your protagonist’s immediate emotional reaction
3. Set a timer for 5 minutes:
   • Review your scene and answer these questions:
     • Does this incident create enough change to sustain a story?
     • Have you shown both the external disruption and internal impact?
     • Is the scale of disruption (personal vs. global) appropriate for your story?
     • Does your protagonist’s reaction reveal something about their character?
4. Optional bonus: Share your scene with other writers and discuss how effectively it serves as an inciting incident.

This exercise helps you practice creating impactful inciting incidents while considering the key elements discussed in the post: timing, character agency, and scale of disruption.

Conclusion

Understanding the inciting incident is crucial for crafting compelling stories that resonate with readers. Whether you choose an early placement or delayed gratification, what matters most is that your inciting incident serves your story’s needs while creating meaningful change in your protagonist’s world. By carefully considering the scale of disruption, character agency, and timing, you can create an inciting incident that not only kicks off your story effectively but also sets the tone for the entire narrative journey ahead.

Additional Resources

Videos

• The Inciting Incident: How to Fire Up Your Story’s Conflict (Writing Advice) is a great video to walk you through the ins and outs of the Inciting Incident using popular films.
• How to Start Your Story: 4-Step Inciting Incident Checklist comes from Story Grid CEO Tim Grahl, with great literary examples to help you figure out how to craft your inciting incident.

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