Strong Inciting Incidents Generate Strong Stories

Janet here. In my January post, I talked about the importance of strong inciting incidents to hook the reader. For those who might have missed that post, I’ll repeat the definition of an inciting incident.

An inciting incident is an event or situation in the story’s opening that brings change and spurs the character to action. This change should threaten the character or his goal or his self-concept or all three. The threat needs to be something readers can relate to, something that will make readers worry about the character, something that will lead readers to ask questions that will keep them turning pages to find answers.

In response to that post, Villager Vince Mooney pointed out that expanding on the inciting incident creates the story, eliminates the problem of the 'sagging middle' and brings a satisfactory conclusion. Vince's points are important. Important enough to merit another post. 

Strong inciting incidents aren’t just a gimmick writers use in the opening to hook the reader. Strong inciting incidents trigger the entire story. The event or situation that threatens the character forces him to act. His actions produce conflict that makes things worse. The character then must regroup and take another action, moving the story forward. This action/reaction is repeated time and time again, but each time the stakes need to be raised.  

I'll use the inciting incident in my novel The Substitute Bride to show how it triggers and produces the mail-order bride story I wanted to write. 

A strong inciting incident triggers the story. I wanted to create an inciting incident that would put the heroine between the proverbial rock and a hard place. So I gave Chicago debutante Elizabeth Manning a father who is determined to marry her off to an old geezer who promised to pay his gambling debts in exchange for his daughter’s hand. Set in 1899, the story opens on the eve of Elizabeth's wedding. The clock is ticking and since the groom turns Elizabeth's stomach, the stakes are high. If Elizabeth stays, tomorrow morning she’ll be trapped in a loveless marriage and her little brother Robby will be sent to boarding school. This is the “So what?” Dr. Mobry spoke about here.

With no money and not much of a plan, Elizabeth decides to run, promising Robby she’ll return for him in a month, before the bank forecloses on their house. Elizabeth’s promise to her brother becomes another ticking clock. I raised the stakes for her by taking away the little money she had (her father had taken it out of her purse) and the support of her aristocratic friends who turned their backs on the now penniless Manning family. Though the story is laced with humor, this inciting incident hopefully builds sympathy for Elizabeth, hooks readers and makes them worry. 

Strong inciting incidents involve hard choices, raised stakes, dramatic action and when possible, ticking clocks. 

So how does this inciting incident get Elizabeth into the mail-order bride marriage I want and trigger the entire story?

Elizabeth’s a strong, determined woman. She has no one to run to for help so she goes to the railroad station, figuring somehow she’ll find a way to board a train. After a night spent on a bench in the depot, Elizabeth comforts a weeping young woman and learns that Sally is a mail-order bride with cold feet. In exchange for the ticket to New Harmony, Iowa, all Elizabeth has to do is switch places with this homesick farm girl and marry her farmer groom. Elizabeth has no interest in marrying anyone, much less a total stranger who might be worse husband material than the old geezer she’s running from. So why would she switch places with Sally and give me the mail-order bride story I want?

Motivation is the key. To motivate Elizabeth I take away her options by bringing her father and the old geezer to the station. When Elizabeth sees them heading her way, she grabs the identifying silk flower, the ticket, and then boards the train, certain that once she arrives in Iowa, she won’t marry the groom. Do you see how a strong inciting incident and a motivated character creates the action? In this case, the inciting incident forces Elizabeth to choose between two bad scenarios.

This is a romance novel so what’s my hero’s motivation for marrying a stranger?

Widower Ted Logan can’t take care of his two young children and work his farm. With no eligible women in town, Ted advertised for a mail-order bride. In the letters he exchanged with Sally, she assured him she can cook, do chores and take care of his children. Ted has no idea that the woman stepping off the train is a pampered debutante who’s never done more than boil water.  

This "fish out of water" heroine is not what Ted ordered. This mismatched pair guarantees things won't go smoothly if Elizabeth marries Ted. Of course, Elizabeth plans to do no such thing.

Which brings me to another point…

Strong inciting incidents require strong characters. Except for his gambling addiction, Elizabeth is like her determined father. She’s capable of taking drastic measures to get what she wants, including lying. She’s got a lot to learn about God, but that’s not the point of this post. Except to say, strong characters are not perfect characters. They have weaknesses, make mistakes and fail. In fact, you’ll want to make sure they do.   

Now that Elizabeth is safely away from the trouble motivating her to run, how does the inciting incident keep the story going?

Again strong motivations make characters act. In the story’s opening, Elizabeth’s younger brother Robby yearns for life on a farm with animals, especially a dog. Elizabeth had promised she’d get him a dog once they are settled. Ted can give Robby both. Even if Elizabeth had the skill to get a job in this small farm community, which doesn’t appear likely, she’d earn only enough to rent a room in a boarding house. She wants to give her motherless, insecure little brother a good life. For Robby’s sake, she decides to marry a stranger, but can't go through with it until she tells the truth about her identity. Though Ted’s shocked and angry about the switch, he's desperate to have a caretaker for his children. He asks Elizabeth three questions. Satisfied with her answers, the town preacher marries them. Their wedding is one of the most entertaining scenes I've ever written. I still grin when I think about it. Desperate characters taking desperate actions can create a suspense or comedy, anything the writer chooses. To keep this story from becoming slapstick, I give Elizabeth and Ted deep-seated wounds. Wounds that create internal conflict and keep them from falling in love. Strong characters need depth. Their pasts need to cause them as much trouble as their present.

Though Ted is willing to wait for Elizabeth to love him, he’s stunned by her inability to handle his home and children. The strong inciting incident leads to Elizabeth’s daily struggles, especially with Ted’s daughter’s hostility, and ensures that the middle of the story doesn’t sag. Elizabeth’s goal is to keep the marriage going so she can bring Robby to the farm. But she keeps his existence secret until she admits her plan in the middle of an argument. Though Ted is keeping secrets of his own, he is livid. Things get worse when Robby arrives and doesn’t fit any more than Elizabeth. Elizabeth even takes Robby and moves out for a while. This "time out" is important to the story, as it gives Elizabeth time to heal, to find out who she is and what she wants. Both she and Ted miss each other, but still have a lot  to overcome. 

So how does a strong inciting incident make for a satisfying ending? 

The satisfying ending is the result of the characters overcoming the obstacles that the inciting incident created for them. Ted and Elizabeth married without love, without knowing one another, without sharing their pasts or secrets. Elizabeth was woefully unprepared to be a wife and mother. The inciting incident threw them together but the odds were against them, Through the actions they take and the lessons they learn, characters are forced to grow and change. That growth is the result of the inciting incident's strong call to action. 

Another point: The happily ever after ending works best when it mimics the inciting incident in some way. By that I mean, we writers can use the elements that forced the character to act, to now give them their happy ending. Elizabeth's father arrives, a changed man thanks to events that happen during the story so the man that created the situation is now the man who shares in their HEA. Ted proposes to Elizabeth and they will renew their vows. This time they know each other, are keeping no secrets and choose to marry because they're in love, not because the inciting incident forces them to. 

When we writers create strong inciting incidents, they will propel the characters through the book, eliminating a sagging middle and giving the satisfying ending we all want. 

Think of the inciting incident in your work in progress or in a book you’ve read. Did these situations or events move the characters to action? Trigger the entire story? Keep the middle from sagging? Bring about a satisfactory ending? 

Share an inciting incident that worked for you for a chance to win an eBook of The Substitute Bride.

I brought coffee and tea, fresh sliced peaches, homemade biscuits and crisp bacon.