Free How to Write a Brilliant Novel: The Easy Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Story (Go! Write Something Brilliant) by Susan May Warren Page B
Authors: Susan May Warren
your Inciting Incident!
What Believable Incident could occur in your hero’s home world? How much sympathy do you need to build for your character to have the reader care that he’s facing this incident?
What Actions could he take, or have happen to him?
What is (are) your character’s primary Needs ?
What Genre are you writing in? Look at your pile of genre books and read the first chapter, or at least the first page of three of them. What happens? Does this churn up any ideas for your hero?
Finally, what backstory elements do you need to include in order to give the Inciting Incident Delicacy and Resonance ?
Okay, so you know where to place the Inciting Incident. The next question is how ? (Of course, I have a few tricks for you!)
The Six Elements to an Inciting Incident!
What do all Inciting Incidents have in common? In the upcoming CREATE section, we’ll be talking about the nuts and bolts of a HOOK , and we’ll delve more deeply into many of these elements. It’s important for you to start thinking about them as you craft your Inciting Incident.
Sympathy Stakes Motivation Desires Fears
Action words
Let’s take a closer look:
Sympathy – Ask yourself: What situation can I put my hero in that would make my audience feel for him? What collective experience or feeling can I touch on that makes him instantly identifiable and creates sympathy in the reader? In Nothing But Trouble , a mystery featuring PJ Sugar, an amateur private investigator. PJ’s Inciting Incident is returning to her hometown, and ending up fulfilling the prophecy of everyone who wants to see her fail. Because most of us have been in a situation where we’ve felt condemned by everyone around us, we can sympathize with PJ as I open the book with her in that very situation.
Stakes – We’ve talked about stakes for your story. How can you hint about them in your first scene? In the scene in the last chapter, from Escape to Morning, the stakes were all about saving Will’s friend (an undercover agent) from being killed, and even saving America from terrorists. You don’t have to explain everything. Asimple one-sentence hint of what is at stake will do the trick. But it should be something the reader will care about.
Motivation or Values – We need to know what about this situation motivates your hero to move to the next step in the journey. Returning to Will’s scene in Escape to Morning, his motivation is the death of his friend, Lew. We could also substitute a hint of his values for motivation, because it is our values that drive our actions.
Desires – What does our hero care about, long for, dream of, that is at stake? Sometimes, in an Inciting Incident, I offer a hint of his dreams, only to then yank them away. But I want him to know (and the reader to know) what he has to live for. Often, I work this into the last part of the Inciting Incident, and often it’s ever so subtle, but enough to know what the hero cares about. In the Inciting Incident in TamingRafe , we see Rafe inviting his pal Manuel’s family to the big bull riding event, and we see that he is longing to have Manuel’s life—a wife, a family, and the admiration in his son’s eyes.
Fears – What is your hero deeply afraid of? Again, this is subtle, but it helps us to know him. For example, in Will’s case, he’s afraid that he won’t be able to save his fellow agent. In PJ’s case (my mystery heroine) it’s that she’ll forever be the failure/laughingstock of her town. One of the best Inciting Incident I’ve ever seen is in a Bruce Willis movie called The Hostage. (It’s pretty violent, so don’t feel like you need to run out and get it. I’ll tell you the Inciting Incident here). Bruce is a hostage negotiator, and in the beginning of the movie, he is negotiating the release of a little boy. He fails in his negotiation, and the little boy is killed. This destroys Bruce, and he drops out of negotiation work. The thing is, his greatest fear is
What Believable Incident could occur in your hero’s home world? How much sympathy do you need to build for your character to have the reader care that he’s facing this incident?
What Actions could he take, or have happen to him?
What is (are) your character’s primary Needs ?
What Genre are you writing in? Look at your pile of genre books and read the first chapter, or at least the first page of three of them. What happens? Does this churn up any ideas for your hero?
Finally, what backstory elements do you need to include in order to give the Inciting Incident Delicacy and Resonance ?
Okay, so you know where to place the Inciting Incident. The next question is how ? (Of course, I have a few tricks for you!)
The Six Elements to an Inciting Incident!
What do all Inciting Incidents have in common? In the upcoming CREATE section, we’ll be talking about the nuts and bolts of a HOOK , and we’ll delve more deeply into many of these elements. It’s important for you to start thinking about them as you craft your Inciting Incident.
Sympathy Stakes Motivation Desires Fears
Action words
Let’s take a closer look:
Sympathy – Ask yourself: What situation can I put my hero in that would make my audience feel for him? What collective experience or feeling can I touch on that makes him instantly identifiable and creates sympathy in the reader? In Nothing But Trouble , a mystery featuring PJ Sugar, an amateur private investigator. PJ’s Inciting Incident is returning to her hometown, and ending up fulfilling the prophecy of everyone who wants to see her fail. Because most of us have been in a situation where we’ve felt condemned by everyone around us, we can sympathize with PJ as I open the book with her in that very situation.
Stakes – We’ve talked about stakes for your story. How can you hint about them in your first scene? In the scene in the last chapter, from Escape to Morning, the stakes were all about saving Will’s friend (an undercover agent) from being killed, and even saving America from terrorists. You don’t have to explain everything. Asimple one-sentence hint of what is at stake will do the trick. But it should be something the reader will care about.
Motivation or Values – We need to know what about this situation motivates your hero to move to the next step in the journey. Returning to Will’s scene in Escape to Morning, his motivation is the death of his friend, Lew. We could also substitute a hint of his values for motivation, because it is our values that drive our actions.
Desires – What does our hero care about, long for, dream of, that is at stake? Sometimes, in an Inciting Incident, I offer a hint of his dreams, only to then yank them away. But I want him to know (and the reader to know) what he has to live for. Often, I work this into the last part of the Inciting Incident, and often it’s ever so subtle, but enough to know what the hero cares about. In the Inciting Incident in TamingRafe , we see Rafe inviting his pal Manuel’s family to the big bull riding event, and we see that he is longing to have Manuel’s life—a wife, a family, and the admiration in his son’s eyes.
Fears – What is your hero deeply afraid of? Again, this is subtle, but it helps us to know him. For example, in Will’s case, he’s afraid that he won’t be able to save his fellow agent. In PJ’s case (my mystery heroine) it’s that she’ll forever be the failure/laughingstock of her town. One of the best Inciting Incident I’ve ever seen is in a Bruce Willis movie called The Hostage. (It’s pretty violent, so don’t feel like you need to run out and get it. I’ll tell you the Inciting Incident here). Bruce is a hostage negotiator, and in the beginning of the movie, he is negotiating the release of a little boy. He fails in his negotiation, and the little boy is killed. This destroys Bruce, and he drops out of negotiation work. The thing is, his greatest fear is
Similar Books
State of Emergency (Book)
Summer Lane
Betrayed by Love
Hailey Hogan
The 13th: Destiny Awaits
Ela Lond
Head to Head
Matt Christopher
The Alpha Prime Commander
Kelly Lucille
Only Witness, The
Shannon Flagg
Amos Gets Famous
Gary Paulsen
Tyler's Undoing
L.P. Dover
Crossing
Stacey Wallace Benefiel