The Inciting Event (Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 4 of 12)

The Inciting Event is one of the most crucial turning points in story structure. It can either make or break your narrative. Many writers, however, struggle with its intricacies and timing. Is the Inciting Event the initial brush with the main conflict? Is it a Call to Adventure met with refusal? Where does it belong in the structure of your story, particularly within the context of the First Act? By analyzing examples from film and literature, we can unravel these complexities and learn to create an impactful Inciting Event.

As the first major turning point in your story, the Inciting Event marks a transition from the setup in the first half of the First Act into the buildup in the second half, as the story begins to ramp into the characters’ full-on immersion in the conflict in the Second Act. As its name suggests, this is the event that “incites” or initiates the plot’s main conflict. Also sometimes referred to as the Inciting Incident, this all-important beat signals that this is what the story is all about.

Misconceptions About the Inciting Event (and the Key Event)

For all that the Inciting Event is crucial to creating a functional plot, it is often misunderstood. My own understanding of the Inciting Event has evolved drastically over the years, and some of my own foggy ideas (as published in the first edition of Structuring Your Novel) have contributed to the confusion. I amended some of this when I offered my free e-book 5 Secrets of Story Structure as a supplement, but one of the main reasons I wanted to create an updated second edition of Structuring Your Novel, as well as updating this series, was to share a more accurate and useful approach to the Inciting Event.

The main thing that has changed about how I view the Inciting Event is that I no longer see its timing as vague. I originally taught that the Inciting Event could take place just about anywhere in or before the First Act. In that view, the Inciting Event might be an event in the character’s backstory that motivates the main plot. Or it might be the plot domino found in the first chapter. Or it might take place halfway through the First Act. Or it might coincide with the Door of No Return—the First Plot Point at the 25% mark.

This wobbly structural timing was based on a conflation of several different important motivating events within the plot’s timeline. When each of these events is given its own name, it becomes clear where the true Inciting Event really lands and what it actually is. Before we go deeper, let’s take a moment to properly identify each of these beats within the story.

Motivating event in the protagonist’s backstory: This is the Ghost (also sometimes called the wound), a term originated by John Truby, which I discuss in my book Creating Character Arcs. As something that happens before the story, it is not properly a part of the plot structure. Rather, it creates context for why characters believe a limiting Lie about themselves or their reality. This Lie will then be challenged by the events of the main plot and will create the characters’ inner journey via their character arcs.

 First plot domino in first chapter: As we discussed in Part 2, this initiation of the story’s cause and effect is created by the Hook at the very beginning. This beat functions to set up the story world and the characterizations that will lead to the true Inciting Event a few chapters later. Turning point halfway through the First Act: Here we find the true home of the Inciting Event, which we will explore in the rest of the post. The Door of No Return at the end of the First Act: This beat is the First Plot Point. It is one of the three most prominent turning points in the entire story (along with the Second Plot Point or Midpoint at the 50% mark and the Third Plot Point at the 75% mark). In order for this beat to create a dramatic and irrevocable turn of events leading into the Second Act, it must be built upon a previous event that incites those events. We will explore the First Plot Point in next week’s post.

As we parse out the function and timing of these catalysts within the story, a clearer picture emerges of how the First Act operates. This picture also supports the pattern of timing and pacing that creates an important turning point every eighth of the story.

Some of you may notice I have not mentioned the Key Event in this lineup. In the first edition of Structuring Your Novel, I wrote:

The Key Event is the moment when the character becomes engaged by the Inciting Event…. The Key Event is the glue that sticks the character to the impetus of the Inciting Event.

This was based on Syd Field’s teaching in Screenplay about the two beats:

[T]he inciting incident… sets the story in motion … [while] the key incident [is] what the story is about, and draws the main character into the story line.

At the time, I also believed in a flexible timeline for the Key Event, associating it more with the Inciting Event than any other beat. I now associate the Key Event with the First Plot Point. On the whole, I find it more straightforward to focus on the fixed beats of the Inciting Event and the First Plot Point.

I apologize for any confusion my own treatment of these terms has caused in the past. I hope this new information will clear up any perplexity.

What Is the Inciting Event?

Now that we’ve explored what the Inciting Event isn’t, what exactly is it?

The Inciting Event is the turning point halfway through the First Act. Up to now, the First Act has mostly concerned itself with setup—with setting the stage, introducing the characters and their motivations, and indicating what is at stake for them. None of these introductions or the scenes they inhabit have been random. Each has been a domino knocking into the next, creating that flawless chain of cause and effect. However, up to this point, these scenes will not have particularly focused on what will become the main conflict in this story.

Although the protagonist will have a desire in the first half of the First Act, or at least a reason to desire something, this desire won’t yet have solidified into a solid plot goal.

For Example:

In The Hunger Games, Katniss starts out disliking the antagonistic Capitol and resisting them in small ways that ensure her family’s survival. She has yet to form the specific plot goal that will directly engage her with that antagonist. Therefore, the story’s main conflict has not yet begun. Rather, these early scenes lay the groundwork for that conflict.

The Inciting Event is where the main conflict significantly intrudes upon the character’s life. I like to say the Inciting Event is where the protagonist “brushes” the main conflict. This contrasts the full-on immersion in that conflict, which the character will experience at the First Plot Point. The difference is one of degree. Even if the happenings at the Inciting Event are quite radical (e.g., Katniss volunteering as tribute to protect her little sister), they will not be as radical as what happens later at the First Plot Point (e.g., starting to train as a tribute).

The characters’ full engagement with the main conflict cannot happen until they form the main plot goal. That will happen at the First Plot Point and will signal the shift out of the First Act into the Second Act. The Inciting Event exists to set up the First Plot Point. Because the plot goal will not yet be fully formed, the character’s response to the Inciting Event will be uncalibrated and perhaps even uncertain. This “brush” with the antagonistic force knocks them off balance.

In the Hero’s Journey terminology, the Inciting Event carries the energy of what is known as the Call to Adventure. When we examine the archetypal underpinnings of story structure, we see that this is the moment when the characters are invited to step beyond a familiar comfort zone. They are challenged to push their growth edges, to step into a “wider world,” and to test their mettle.

Aptly, the forward momentum of the Call to Adventure will almost always be met with a Refusal of the Call, as the characters resist what their changing circumstances are now asking of them. In some stories, the protagonist will explicitly try to refuse the Call to Adventure by avoiding the consequences of the Inciting Event. In other stories (such as Hunger Games), the refusal may occur primarily within the protagonist, as represented by feelings of fear or inadequacy. In still other stories, the refusal may be represented by counsel or resistance offered by supporting characters who do not want the protagonist to engage with the main conflict by enacting a specific plot goal.

Where Does the Inciting Event Belong?

The Inciting Event splits the First Act, taking place around the 12% mark in the story. This timing does not need to be exact. The shorter your story, the tighter your timing should be; the longer your story, the more wiggle room you will have. However, the significance of the Inciting Event’s timing is that it must allow enough space before to realistically set up whatever will happen at the Inciting Event, including what will motivate the characters to respond as they do. Most of the important elements need to be in place (or at least foreshadowed) by the time you reach the Inciting Event.

The timing of your Inciting Event must also allow for the second half of the First Act to focus on scenes that develop your characters’ reactions to the Inciting Event. From here, the rest of the First Act will shift out of setting things up into building up to the First Plot Point. Structurally, the First Plot Point is a massive moment in your story and will almost always be represented by a suitably dramatic event. The second half of the First Act builds into that moment. Most importantly, this section of the story is where your characters will begin forming a concrete plot goal.

In stories in which the characters are more reactionary (i.e., are at the mercy of a much larger antagonistic force), their plot goal may not become concrete until the First Plot Point. In these stories, the focus in the second half of the First Act may be on increasing tension and raising the stakes so the characters have little choice but to engage by the time they reach the First Plot Point.

For Example:

In Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker’s Inciting Event introduces him to the opportunity of leaving Tatooine with Ben Kenobi—a Call to Adventure which he refuses—but when his aunt and uncle are murdered at the First Plot Point, he has no choice but to accompany Ben.

Other stories will feature a more proactive protagonist whose desire for the goal creates the conflict, rather than the conflict creating the goal.

For Example:

In Bend It Like Beckham, protagonist Jess joins the soccer team not because anything forces her, but because it is her dream. This puts her in conflict with her family, but she initiated the events. In stories like this, the protagonist often spends the scenes between the Inciting Event and the First Plot Point taking deliberate steps toward a full commitment to the plot goal.

In stories that feature particularly life-changing Inciting Events, such as The Hunger Games, the Inciting Event will still build up to the First Plot Point. Occasionally, in such stories, the First Plot Point will be less dramatic than the Inciting Event, but will still structurally function to fully engage the protagonist with the main plot goal.

For Example:

Even though Katniss’s dramatic Inciting Event forever changes her life, she does not fully engage with the main plot conflict of surviving the Hunger Games until she reaches the Capitol, where she begins training as a tribute.

In most stories, the three major plot points (First Plot Point, Midpoint, Third Plot Point) will feature the story’s “biggest” scenes. It is important to remember that even in stories in which this is not true, the structural timing and the specific roles of each structural beat remain the same.

Examples of the Inciting Event From Film and Literature

Pride and Prejudice: Although Elizabeth and Darcy spar at the Meryton assembly dance, forming opinions of each other they will spend the rest of the story trying to overcome, the true Inciting Event is the scene in which Elizabeth becomes the Bingleys’ guest while her sister Jane is staying there as an invalid. This sequence “brushes” Elizabeth against the main plot conflict by initiating her relationship with Darcy. From here, their paths will become more and more intertwined.

It’s a Wonderful Life: This classic movie uses the entirety of its First Act to leisurely introduce and build its characters. Its gentle Inciting Event occurs on the night of the high school dance when George’s father asks him if he would be willing to stay in Bedford Falls to help run the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan. George promptly refuses his father’s request. This sets up the central throughline and George’s central conflict between his need to stay and help contrasted with his burning desire to leave Bedford Falls.

Ender’s Game: The First Act frames the central conflict by introducing a world that has been under attack by the Formic aliens for over eighty years. The protagonist, young Ender, is not directly impacted by this larger conflict until the Inciting Event when Col. Graff and the International Fleet Selective Service recruit him. He is taken to Battle School, where he will be trained to outwit and outfight the aliens.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: This film’s structure is interesting in that the Inciting Event sequence takes up almost the entirety of the first eighth of the movie. This sequence of scenes features the sneak attack by the enemy ship Acheron upon the protagonist’s ship, HMS Surprise. After this attack, around the 12% mark, the protagonist must repair the ship and decide how to respond.

Top Things to Remember About the Inciting Event

The Inciting Event takes place halfway through the First Act, around the 12% mark. The Inciting Event is the moment when the protagonist “brushes” into the main conflict, antagonist, or goal in a way that requires a response. The Inciting Event lays the foundation for the protagonist’s subsequent full-on engagement with the main conflict. The Inciting Event is a Call to Adventure, challenging the character to either rise up in resistance against something or move proactively toward a desire. This Call to Adventure is initially refused, perhaps internally or perhaps by a proxy character, as the protagonist faces the weight of what is at stake in engaging with the conflict. The Inciting Event signals the end of the First Act’s “set up” and the beginning of the “build up” toward the Second Act.

A solid Inciting Event creates the foundation for your entire story. Don’t settle for anything less than the most powerful and memorable scene you can come up with. Time it strategically within the First Act and use it to engage your readers just as irretrievably as it does your main character.

Stay tuned: Next week, we’ll talk about the First Plot Point.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Can you identify the Inciting Event in your work-in-progress? Tell me in the comments!

Related Posts:

Part 1: 5 Reasons Story Structure Is Important

Part 2: The Hook

Part 3: The First Act

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