The Inciting Incident (and How to Crack It)

The inciting incident is a key moment in storytelling and establishes a new status quo for the main character. They cannot go back to who they were at the beginning; they must go on through the trials and tribulations of the plot to who they will become by the end.

While the beginning of your story must be engaging enough to keep readers reading, the inciting incident changes the game.

So how do you set your story in motion?

In this article, The Novelry’s Deputy Editorial Director Tash Barsby explains what an inciting incident is and where it should happen in your story, provides some recognizable examples, and reveals tips to create a memorable inciting incident. 

Melanie Conklin, author and writing coach at The Novelry, provides examples of inciting incidents from her own novels and demonstrates how to identify the inciting incident in your plot.

Inciting incident definition 

Put simply, the inciting incident is an event in your story that provokes a change.

Your main character will be trotting along, cheerfully minding their own business, living their life as it was before we meet them on the page—then something happens that changes their status quo and forces them to start down an unexpected new path. Also known as the catalyst, the inciting event thrusts the rest of your story arc into motion and is a crucial first step in your wider story structure. 

Causal and coincidental inciting incidents

There are broadly two types of inciting events that kickstart the plot—causal or coincidental.

For a causal inciting incident, the change to your main character’s life is introduced through an active choice made by another character—for example, the discovery of a dead body or a reveal from a husband that he is moving out.

In a coincidental inciting incident, the agent of change is seemingly random or a consequence of the main character being in the wrong place at the wrong time (or, indeed, the right place at the right time!). For example, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the inciting action occurs when Lucy stumbles across the portal to Narnia in the back of the wardrobe by accident while exploring the Professor’s house.

Put simply, the inciting incident is an event in your story that provokes a change.

The inciting moment

Ideally, you want this key moment of change to occur quickly within your plot and capture your reader’s attention.

There’s a school of thought that suggests that it should happen at the 12% point of your narrative, but this isn’t set in stone. You may choose to have the inciting incident occur in the first chapter—or even the first page!

Wherever it comes, I would strongly recommend including a strong inciting incident in the submission package you send to literary agents. Cue my daily exasperation that the publishing industry can’t agree on what constitutes a submission package—is it the first 3 chapters, the first 50 pages, the first 10,000 words? But for the purposes of this article, I suppose the industry’s indecision on this matter helps—because this is another reason to get that important inciting incident in early in your plot so that you’re not having to rearrange your structure for each submission package you send out to a literary agent.

We’re all about ‘tools not rules’ at The Novelry, so it’s important to note that you can choose to treat your inciting incident in the way that best suits your vision for your story arc.

For example, there may be occasions when the inciting incident has happened before the opening of your novel. In fantasy (especially epic fantasy), the inciting incident is often only the latest plot point that kicks off this part of a much larger story. As it continues, the characters discover they are part of an epic narrative; the true inciting incident could have occurred decades, centuries, or millennia previously.

If your novel does have an inciting incident that happens ‘off the page’ as a past event, it’s important to make sure that the impact of these inciting events is felt right the way through the beginning so that your reader can experience it alongside your characters.

An example of this is in The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse, where the inciting incident for Elin is the invitation to her estranged brother’s engagement party. In the first scene, we see our protagonist already on her journey to the snowy mountain hotel after accepting this invite, feeling nervous that she has made the wrong choice and feeling wary of seeing her brother again.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you could argue that the death of Harry’s parents (and the attempted murder of Harry himself) by Lord Voldemort, which takes place before the story starts, are the events that set the rest of the story in motion. However, if we follow Joseph Campbell’s description of the inciting incident as a ‘call to adventure,’ the inciting incident is, of course, when Hagrid tells Harry he is a wizard! 

Inciting incident examples

What does this look like in practice? Here are some examples of some of our editors’ favorite inciting incidents: 

Book Club

In Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist, the inciting incident is the protagonist Nella’s new husband gifting her a miniature replica of their Amsterdam home, bringing with it an unsettling magic into their lives.

Romance

In From Lukov With Love by Mariana Zapata, the inciting incident is when the protagonist, figure skater Jasmine, is asked to partner with Ivan Lukov, the man she’s absolutely despised for the past decade.

Thriller

In Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Nick receives a phone call from a neighbor who says that the front door to his house has been left open. He rushes home to find furniture overturned and his wife, Amy, missing...

Historical

In Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, the inciting incident is Gentleman arriving at the main character Sue Trinder’s home in the London slums, proposing a con in which they’ll cheat a rich young gentlewoman out of her inheritance.

Science Fiction

In Dune, the inciting incident is when the House Atreides receives news that they’re taking control of the planet Arrakis from their enemy House Harkonnen.

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the inciting incident is when Arthur Dent wakes up to discover that the Earth is about to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

Fantasy

In The Lord of the Rings, the inciting incident occurs when Bilbo leaves his ring to Frodo after his birthday party, which is soon followed by Gandalf revealing to Frodo that his ring is, in fact, the One Ring...

Middle Grade

In Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, the inciting incident is an attack on Percy from Mrs. Dodds, his teacher, who turns out to be a Fury from the underworld searching for the Lightning Thief. It leads him to be pulled out of school and sent to Camp Half-Blood, where he discovers he’s the son of Poseidon.

Young Adult

In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the inciting incident is the moment when Katniss Everdeen’s sister is selected during the reaping, and Katniss volunteers in her place, sending her into a brutal game of life and death.

In Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the inciting incident is the first text by the anonymous secret-revealer, Aces, where it’s clear they’re targeting two Black kids, Devon and Chiamaka, the least privileged kids at this elite school.

Genre expectations  

Of course, another key point to remember when it comes to writing your inciting incident is to make sure it is suitable for your genre and target readership.

Beginning a middle-grade novel with the gruesome discovery of a body wouldn’t make much sense, nor would focusing on the romantic connection between a detective and her new love interest that has no bearing on the detective’s murder investigation.

You want your inciting incident to kickstart the wider plot to get the reader excited about what they can expect from the reading experience and journey you’re about to take them on—so make sure this moment of change feels tonally in keeping with everything that happens in the following pages.

Naturally, different genres will approach structure differently—if you’re writing in the more literary or book club space, it may make sense to prioritize establishing your character’s status quo before introducing this inciting change; if you’re writing for a commercial readership, you may even have the inciting incident happen on the first page. However, balancing the plot and character work in your story is necessary regardless of your genre, and it all comes down to the pace of your novel.

You want your inciting incident to kickstart the wider plot to get the reader excited about what they can expect from the reading experience and journey you’re about to take them on...

Narrative drive and pace

Pace is a crucial part of storytelling and another reason to prioritize your inciting incident early on.

Aim to avoid the common trap of overloading your opening chapters with your main character’s backstory. While we will, of course, need to know certain details of their past to understand who they are and why they act the way they do throughout the novel, this is all information that would be better served being threaded through the story so that you build our engagement with this character in a more organic way.

I like to think of it as meeting someone at a party; you—hopefully—wouldn’t launch into an explanation of the death of your first pet, who your favorite teacher in the Harry Potter series is, or how many times you have watched Die Hard after introducing yourself to a stranger. The same rules apply to your writing!

With this in mind, you’ll ideally want to ensure your inciting incident has a sense of urgency to it. It wouldn’t be particularly exciting if the catalyst were something that could easily be dealt with in a few months’ time! The inciting incident should inspire an immediate change to help accelerate the pace of your story within the first pages.

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Tips for your inciting incident

1. When writing the inciting incident, make sure it is something that happens to your protagonist, not done by them.
2. Think about the other characters. Where possible, ensure your inciting incident also forces a change for your antagonist as well as your protagonist.
3. In most cases, an inciting incident should feel personal to your main character to inspire that moment of change and force them to act.
4. It should be an event that inspires your character to spring into action quickly.
5. Your inciting incident should be the first step of a series of plot beats that make up your story structure—so consider how it services the pitch or hook of your novel and your intentions for the reading experience.

Final thoughts from an editor

Remember, the inciting incident is a pivotal moment that sets your story in motion and propels your characters into their new reality. It’s not just about creating shock value but about introducing a change that deeply affects your characters and determines their future actions.

By understanding this tool and using it effectively, you can create a compelling narrative that hooks readers from the beginning and keeps them engaged till the end.

How to write the inciting incident: tips from an author

Melanie Conklin, author of children’s fiction and a writing coach at The Novelry, offers her own understanding of the inciting incident and how she has utilized it in her bestselling novels.

Melanie’s take

The inciting incident is the moment that your story begins. Even though your book may not open with the inciting event on the very first page, that is the moment the reader is anticipating as they dive into your story.

They want to feel that explosive sensation of vulnerability when a character finds themselves in a dilemma that they do not know how to escape. That’s the thrill of reading fiction, and the inciting incident kicks it all off.

For this reason, it’s super important not to leave the reader waiting for the inciting event for too long! Where to place the inciting event varies by genre, but generally, the answer is sooner rather than later.

The inciting incident in Melanie Conklin’s Crushed

In my latest novel for young readers, Crushed, the first chapter opens with the main character searching for her best friend on the return to school after winter break. This happens on page one, hooking the reader right away.

The main character senses that something has changed in their friendship, creating a sense of dread in both the main character and the reader, who anticipates the impending conflict between the two friends.

When the main character finally finds her best friend, she’s doing a social media dare with a bunch of popular kids and seems to have forgotten about their meeting entirely. The main character’s anxiety skyrockets, leading to a crowd-induced panic attack.

By the end of this scene, the main character has confirmed that something is wrong with their friendship, which launches her into an investigation to make sense of her friend’s sudden change in behavior. In this way, the inciting event kicks off the entire plot.

Without this event, the main character wouldn’t be sure that something is wrong in their friendship, but the way her best friend distances herself around these popular kids shows the main character that something is off between them in a way that can’t be ignored. Their friendship has changed. Her life has changed in a way that is specifically connected to the plot. 

The inciting incident must be causative

It’s critical that the inciting incident is causative.

It is not just a minor inconvenience that can be brushed aside or easily ignored. This incident is a major life change for your character, such as a relocation, death, or even the good fortune of a lottery win.

It must be intrinsically connected to the plot

Regardless of when or how the inciting event occurs, it needs to be intrinsically connected to the plot. Once my main character in Crushed realizes that her friendship is in trouble, she can’t just ignore that. If she wants to keep her friend, she has to do something about it. So that’s exactly what she does.

The inciting incident in Melanie Conklin’s A Perfect Mistake

In another of my books for young readers, A Perfect Mistake, the story opens with the main character writing a letter to his future self on the first day of school. While struggling to start the letter, he reveals that something big has just happened to disrupt his friend group. We learn this on page one.

By the end of the opening chapter, we have enough clues to piece together that a tragic accident has just occurred, leaving one of his friends in the hospital, and the other close friend not speaking to him.

Even though this inciting event has already happened prior to the opening pages of the book, it is conveyed to the reader in the opening chapter, hooking their desire to find out what really happened and if the main character can repair the damage.

How to identify your novel’s inciting incident

If you’re struggling to identify the inciting event for your story, I recommend listing the events in your story to check for causation.

Causation exists when two events are irrevocably connected, i.e.: cause and effect. If, when you connect the events in your plot, you can join them with the phrase ‘and then,’ they are not causatively connected. We want to join these events with the phrase ‘because of that...’ or ‘but.’

The first event in this chain of causative events is your inciting incident.

Remember, the inciting incident sets the entire plot into motion. It is the first step on a long journey. It is the moment of crossing into a new world, one where the character no longer knows how to find their place.

Last tip for finding your novel’s inciting incident 

One final tip for identifying your inciting event is to pitch the story to a trusted friend. This friend can even be yourself! Just record yourself pitching your story. Describe it as though you were telling a friend what the story is about, and start with the word ‘when.’

When the main character experiences the inciting moment, they must reach a goal or else stakes happen.

Fill in the blanks and you will have your one-sentence hook for your story, which clearly identifies the inciting moment. All of the extraneous details and scenes fall away when we focus on where the story starts. 

The inciting incident is the beginning of your conflict. Your character’s world changes, thrusting them into the front seat of a rollercoaster with no chance of escape. They must take the ride and follow the plot to its thrilling climax and conclusion.

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