The Inciting Incident

At this week’s Story Club, my workshop for young writers, we looked at the inciting incident, also known as the call to adventure, the catalyst. Known by many names, we discussed this initiatory spark that starts off the story action.

Whether it be a gentle ‘spark’, for example a letter in the post from a magical school (Harry Potter), or a big Bam! (a volcano erupting, a village being attacked), the inciting incident starts the character’s journey.

The young writers came up with these exciting ideas and wrote the beginnings of their stories:

A character is at her grandmother’s house. She discovers a locked drawer in her bedroom … which the character unlocks. (In this story, the scene is set before the inciting incident — the grandma is shown to be open and welcoming, so when the locked drawer (and diary within!) is discovered, it is a stronger mystery.)

A character is on holiday at the italian coast. She can’t relax and we soon discover she had seen a ghostly presence in the hotel the night before. (Here, the inciting incident (the ghostly presence) actually happens before the start of the story!)

Other ideas included a blind girl making a friend, a fantasy world where four human saviours are picked to end the war of the elements, a detective story where a murder is discovered, and a crime story from the perspective of the murderer (the initial spark is the injustice the murderer witnesses!),

We enjoyed kicking off plots, and may the sparks be with you too.