WHAT IS "INCITING INCIDENT?"
A story must have a beginning, middle and end. In the beginning, the protagonist (hero) is in his normal world. Let’s say it is Monday morning. My protagonist wakes up, brushes his teeth, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, drinks a beer, watches TV, goes to bed, and the next morning, he’ll start it all over again. But what happens if in the middle of the night, the telephone rings, and
a stranger on the other end says “If you hang up the phone I’m going to kill you.” This moment in time is called the “Inciting Incident,” also known as the catalyst, turning point, or call to action. It is that event that will turn the protagonist (hero’s) world upside-down. Simply answering the telephone has cause a crisis (conflict) in this man’s ordinary world. This “turning point” event has taken him out of his ordinary world and set him (setup) on a path of discovery. The inciting incident is the call to action that launches the main story. It asks a question that the protagonist must answer before the story ends. It will take him on an unexpected adventure and we will go with him to see how he handles the journey. The “inciting incident” is the tornado in the Wizard of Oz that turned Dorothy’s ordinary world upside-down and launched her on her journey to find a way back home
A story must have a beginning, middle and end. In the beginning, the protagonist (hero) is in his normal world. Let’s say it is Monday morning. My protagonist wakes up, brushes his teeth, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, drinks a beer, watches TV, goes to bed, and the next morning, he’ll start it all over again. But what happens if in the middle of the night, the telephone rings, and
a stranger on the other end says “If you hang up the phone I’m going to kill you.” This moment in time is called the “Inciting Incident,” also known as the catalyst, turning point, or call to action. It is that event that will turn the protagonist (hero’s) world upside-down. Simply answering the telephone has cause a crisis (conflict) in this man’s ordinary world. This “turning point” event has taken him out of his ordinary world and set him (setup) on a path of discovery. The inciting incident is the call to action that launches the main story. It asks a question that the protagonist must answer before the story ends. It will take him on an unexpected adventure and we will go with him to see how he handles the journey. The “inciting incident” is the tornado in the Wizard of Oz that turned Dorothy’s ordinary world upside-down and launched her on her journey to find a way back home