Five Shortcuts for Creating an Inciting Moment by writerswrite1 Source for Image What is an Inciting Moment? Somewhere near the beginning of a story, a main character is confronted with a crisis. The crisis destabilises his world in a dramatic way—his life is turned upside down. Usually, this crisis also acts as a catalyst to expose an inner conflict in the character, one that can only be resolved by him directly confronting the external threats, in a series of escalating dramatic incidents. This is the Inciting Moment in a nutshell. It stirs things up in the main character’s life and gets the story started. It urges the main character to take action—and refusing to act will have consequences. The main character must be startled by this moment. He must be aware of it as a turning point but often he is unaware of the ripple effect it will have on his life or the story. As a writer, it is not always easy to identify the inciting moment—it will probably be refined or rewritten in draft two or three. One way to make it easier is to keep the inciting moment consistent with your genre. In a love story, it is when the heroine comes up against the one person who will irrevocably change her world. In a detective story, the lead investigator is given a difficult case to solve. In suspense, the danger to the main character becomes chillingly apparent. In a drama, more often than not, somebody dies. Imagine your main character in a deserted park at night. He comes across the antagonist for the first time. What will they say to each other? What action will the hero take? This will give you some insight into what needs to go into your inciting moment. Try it. Have your heroine in a coffee shop or restaurant and in walks the hero. How does she react to him? How is he going to change her life? Free write this conversation. While you may never use it in your actual story, it will help clarify things for you. Five Shortcuts for Creating an Inciting Moment Introduce a character / Reintroduce an old character. An old school friend shows up in town. An amnesiac is found in the church graveyard. A stranger on a train strikes up a conversation. Have someone die. The funeral brings together feuding family members. A best friend goes missing. A sister is confined to a mental home. Introduce an event. A fire burns down a single mother’s home. A new ordinance evicts people from their home. A religion is banned. Cholera epidemic breaks out. Issue an invitation / Give a promotion. A secretary accidentally gets invited to a billionaire’s charity ball. A man is given a chance to work overseas. Deliver a threat. Somebody leaves a mutilated doll outside a supermodel’s apartment. An old woman notices bizarre spiders in her basement. Do you have any suggestions for creating inciting moments? by Anthony Ehlers Follow Anthony on Twitter and Facebook Anthony Ehlers is an author, a ghost writer, a screenwriter and a brilliant writing teacher. He also has more than 10 years’ experience in copywriting, magazine journalism, public relations and strategic communications. Now a full-time freelance writer, Anthony facilitates creative writing courses for Writers Write, while working on his own projects. Visit Anthony’s LinkedIn Profile Writers Write offers the best writing courses in South Africa. To find out about Writers Write - How to write a book, or The Plain Language Programme - Writing courses for business, email [email protected] Join us on Facebook and Twitter for daily writing tips Follow @Writers_Write Writers Write - Write to Communicate writerswrite1 | 05/09/2013 at 06:37 | Tags: Anthony Ehlers, creative writing, creative writing courses, Five Shortcuts for Creating an Inciting Moment, Inciting Moment, Plotting, Writing Advice, Writing Tips | Categories: Writing Advice | URL: wp.me/p3ee1x-xA Comment See all comments Like Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: writerswrite1.wordpress/2013/09/05/five-shortcuts-for-creating-an-inciting-moment/
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 04:59:01 +0000
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