Inciting Incident | Definition, Examples, & Your Story Weapon

With storytelling, if your reader isn’t engaged within the first few chapters, you run the risk of losing their attention.

So, what needs to happen in the opening pages of your story to hold your reader’s focus? 

You may have heard it referred to as “the call to adventure,” “the catalyst,” “the hook,” or even the “meet cute.” But let’s refer to it by its technical name: the Inciting Incident.

This is where Harry Potter learns he’s a wizard or Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute. It’s the moment where your reader understands what the story is about.

In this article, I’ll explain what an “inciting incident” is, and offer some examples from contemporary fiction and film. Finally, I will give you a powerful Story Weapon to help you write a compelling inciting incident and keep your readers engrossed.

What is an Inciting Incident?

Gustav Freytag, a 19th century German writer who introduced Freytag’s Pyramid, theorized that all plots can be broken into five key stages: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. As you can see from his pyramid, the inciting incident is the catalyst that triggers the rising action.

The inciting incident is the event or decision in the story that sets the main character(s) and plot into motion. 

Before this event, life was normal. The status quo was being upheld. The protagonist accepted life as it was, even if they didn’t enjoy it. Then the inciting incident occurred and all of a sudden threw the protagonist’s world off balance. 

The inciting incident has mounting consequences that will shape the plot and move the protagonist inexorably towards a state of transformation. This incident often starts a ticking clock of sorts. It creates an urgency that moves the story forward and propels the protagonist into action.

The purpose of an inciting incident is to launch the story into motion. What’s at stake for the protagonist becomes clearer as the inciting incident introduces the dilemma that will carry them through the story.

Types of Inciting Incidents

Inciting incidents tend to fall into one of three categories:

Casual — This is when the changing event is triggered by a deliberate choice made by or about the protagonist. A murder being committed, a spouse leaving their partner, a decision to take a trip. These events only occurred due to a character in the story taking a step in an intentional direction. 

Coincidental — This incident occurs by random chance. It is an unexpected or accidental event in which the character was just in the right place at the right time. In The Martian, there is a storm on Mars that results in Mark Watney going missing. The “meet-cute” trope in romance novels are typically an example of the coincidental inciting incident as the two main characters happen to meet each other in some random manner.

Ambiguous — While less common or trickier to place, the ambiguous inciting incident happens under circumstances that are not fully explained or understood. This is common in mystery or  thriller genres. Readers are meant to keep guessing whether the protagonist is in their situation by choice or circumstance. The truth usually comes to light at the end of the story which then allows us to slot it under casual or coincidental. 

Writing Inciting Incidents

In order to write a compelling inciting incident that will keep your readers engaged, it needs to happen relatively early in the story. 

An incident can be:

Immediate — beginning the story in the thick of the action

Delayed — the more traditional approach, occurring in the first few chapters

Or “Off-page” — a method used in nonlinear timeline literature where the story begins in the middle of the plot

No matter where you place your incident in the story, be sure that it is clear and stimulating. It needs to be a big enough shift in your protagonist’s life that there is urgency to take action and tension that can be maintained throughout the story.

Inciting Incident — Your Story Weapon

If you go to a good doctor with a pain in your knee, the doctor is going to look at your hip. They’re looking for the source of the pain. The same goes for story. If your inciting incident is the knee, then the dramatic question (the theme) that begins the story is your hip. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the inciting incident occurs when Romeo sees Juliet through the window and realizes he is in love. If the play opened with this scene, the audience would be confused, because there would be no context for this moment. Until we understand that Romeo has had his heart broken by Rosaline and questions whether or not true love is worth it, we don’t know what it means that he has fallen in love. 

The dramatic question asks us: Is true love worth it? 

If you want to write a compelling inciting incident, whether you’re writing a novel, memoir, screenplay, play, or even a short story, ask yourself if you can identify something that happens early on in the story that sets it into motion. It doesn’t have to be a big dramatic event like a murder or a bank robbery. It could be a new neighbor moving in, or the first day at school, or your car breaking down.

Choose something. Anything. You don’t have to get it right. This isn’t math class.

Now ask yourself this question: “What does my reader need to know in order for this moment to have its fullest impact?” Scribble down all of the images and ideas that come to mind.

And now, ask yourself what your protagonist wants. What are they seeking from the beginning of the story to the end? Make it primal. Is it freedom, connection, success, survival, meaning, purpose . . . ? 

In order to write a compelling inciting incident, you need to understand what would cause your protagonist to move. By exploring your protagonist’s core dilemma, a more dynamic incident will arise naturally.

Example of an Inciting Incident and Core Dilemma

Let’s say it is freedom. What if, for example, the protagonist committed a crime a very long time ago, and the new neighbor who moves in next door is an FBI agent? What if the protagonist is living under an assumed name? Then, what if the protagonist’s wife doesn’t know about her husband’s past? What if the husband is feeling distant from his spouse because of this secret? Do you see how this sets up the dramatic question: “How can I be free?”

As you explore, you will begin to notice that creating an opening to a compelling story involves making choices and holding them loosely. Move in the direction of what captures your excitement. Remember, you are making art, not widgets. There are no rules, but there is craft involved. As you explore the relationship between the inciting incident and the information necessary to provide this incident with context, you will notice that your subconscious is finding creative ways to dramatize your opening.

The incident needs to be bigger than the character. It’s enough to move them into action, but doesn’t reveal what their journey will result in. This creates questions both within your protagonist but also in your readers that encourages them to continue reading.

So, for example, if we know in the beginning that our protagonist is someone who has outrun the law, and is living a double-life with the spouse who is oblivious, then is it an inciting incident when the neighbor moves in next door, or is it when our protagonist discovers that the neighbor is FBI. Probably the latter. This is the moment that your reader, suddenly, in a flash, understands what the story is about.  

Struggling to create a compelling opening to your story? Join me for a workshop to dive deeper into your writing: The 90-Day Novel, The 90-Day Memoir, Story Day