The Inciting Incident Isn't Chapter 1

I am amazed at how long it took me to realize this, or at least put it in words. And amazed at how long it took me to write an article about it, but here we are!

In recent times, it’s become extremely common to merge two storytelling concepts that shouldn’t be merged.

Chapter 1: you know, the start of any story. (I’m calling it a chapter, but this obviously applies to all forms of storytelling, including scripts.)
The Inciting Incident: the event that kicks off the story. (“The incident that incites the plot.”)

Now, you might read this and be like: “well obviously these are the same! The event that kicks off the story should happen in chapter 1!”

I used to agree, years ago. I thought this was a weird distinction. And why were people putting the inciting incident at like 15% of the story? You’re already deep into the story and it still hasn’t started?

Then I started writing myself. A lot. Many books and short stories followed.

The Issue

And I noticed an issue.

If I started the story at the moment the life of my main character changed drastically … it didn’t feel drastic. It just felt like a large event that the reader didn’t understand yet.
If I started the story with background and setup … it was slow and felt like I naturally “rebooted” the story after the first few chapters.

I kept running into that same issue. Around chapter 3 or 4 my stories “actually started”. When I gave the books to betareaders (mostly friends and family of course, at that point), most of them “paused reading” at chapter 3. Because this weird break, this weird restart, was clearly felt by readers.

But if I removed it—if I just cut the first three chapters entirely—the story was confusing and meh as well.

Checking the Classics

Then I happened to watch a few older movies and realized the truth that seems to have been forgotten. They all had their inciting incident quite a long time after the actual start of the story.

For example, take Mulan. The story starts by showing her personality and struggles, showing her daily life, how she isn’t good at the things typically expected of a young woman. It’s not without conflict, it’s not slow, but it’s also clearly not the main story. That one starts a while later when her father is summoned to war and she goes instead.

Or take the first Indiana Jones movie. The story starts with a side-quest: he tries to steal a gold idol in some faraway place. It’s not without conflict or slow, because there’s action, progression, betrayal, and near escape. But it’s also clearly not the main story. Once this intro is done, the story kind of “restarts” in a more quiet way, back at university with Indiana Jones teaching archeology and getting his main quest.

This works great. It works much better than what many modern stories do, which is throw the reader into the inciting incident from the first minute. It allows giving backstory to make you understand and care for the inciting incident, without starting the book like an encyclopedia.

A simple guideline

So what can we learn from this? How do we apply this in practice?

I’ve found the following to be a nice distinction.

Chapter 1 is when the main character’s life becomes interesting (through a minor issue they don’t solve (well)).
The Inciting Incident is when the main storyline actually starts (because the issue became major and now there’s no turning back).

Of course your story should start with something happening. There should be something to interest the audience, to create a bit of tension and movement.

I guess there are many ways to do this. You can do the “side-quest”, like Indiana Jones. You can do the “smaller issue” (from daily life), like Mulan.

You can do a “mystery vibe intro”, like the Game of Thrones prologue. In that prologue, you follow a few rangers beyond the wall who stumble upon dead people brought back to life. They all die, except one, who returns to tell the news. In the entirety of that first book … none of this is ever referenced or visited again! It is not any of the main storylines (yet), but it’s a great intro to create intrigue and mystery.

Or I guess Harry Potter is similar. It starts with a very mysterious chapter of Harry being brought to his new foster parents. Then another mysterious chapter in which he explains the weird things that happen around him and people in weird cloaks looking at him. The main story only starts a few chapters into the book; before that moment all the intrigue came from Harry having a daily life that’s … interesting.

Pick one you like and execute it for a few chapters. Have the story be interesting without kicking off the main story yet. Use this time to make the reader care about your main character(s) and understand enough about the world.

Then, I guess around chapter 3–5, you have your actual inciting incident. The big event that turns “interesting” into “everything is on fire and the main character must act now”.

Usually, it means “I’ve not adequately dealt with that interesting thing and now it’s becoming too big”. This is also present in the “reluctant hero” phase at the start of the famous Hero’s Journey. Lord of the Rings is a pretty typical example of that. That book also starts with many chapters just introducing some characters, some parts of the world, some minor mysteries.

The hobbits are almost literally designed to be simple people and not care about the rest of the world. They are reluctant to start their mission. Only once they’ve ignored it for too long, and an interesting situation has become a real problem, does the story kick off fully.

Conclusion

It’s simple, really. Start a story by introducing an interesting problem, but don’t have the hero tackle it just yet.

A few chapters/scenes of interesting problems and situations draws the audience in. It makes them wonder what will come of it, what it means, why it happens. And you can sneakily build your world and explain the information needed to understand what’s coming.

Because only a while later does the problem become massive and force the hero to fight it. That is the Inciting Incident, and it should be clearly separate from chapter 1.

With this setup,

The start of the story is never boring or slow.
It’s also not rushed or overwhelming.
And the story doesn’t feel like it “reboots” after a few chapters,
- Because the inciting incident is a very natural consequence of what came before
- And it’s the actual main story, while the introduction was clearly not the main story yet.

That’s the reverse issue I also had a few times. I put so much effort into those first few chapters that they now give the impression that they’re already the main dish. When the real story starts later, readers are confused, and the main story feels like a side-quest instead. Which you obviously never want!

Maybe it’s just a product of our time. With shortened attention spans and more media than ever, storytellers are so scared of losing you that they are one step away from starting the story with the climax.

But we’ve forgotten that the build-up and the quieter moments make the big moments. Without it, they are just confusing meh moments. Without the separation of your first page and your first big event, it won’t actually feel like a big event.

All that matters is that the story is interesting from the start. Why people enjoy stories and what’s interesting to humans, though, is still very much an unknown. To answer that question I think writers should just rely on their own intuition. If you find something interesting enough to write about, then there will be others out there who are interested too.

Start your story, on page 1, with something that interests you and creates intrigue or mystery. Blow it out of proportion with an inciting incident later to actually get enough meat for an 80,000 word story.

Those were my thoughts for today,

Tiamo