Inciting Incidents
The inciting incident is an episode, plot point or event that hooks the reader into the story. It occurs near the beginning of the plot and starts the rising action of the plot. It begins a conflict in the life of the protagonist and puts the events of the plot into motion. The inciting incident introduces the conflict in the story.
Identify the Inciting Incident in your novel
This should be the "hook" in your book trailer. What kicks off the main conflict and all the events that follow? This should be presented in some way in the first scenario and opening in the trailer. The examples below may be helpful as you consider the inciting incident in your own book.
Examples of Inciting Incidents:
In the Star Wars movies, the inciting incident for Luke Skywalker is when R2D2 is bought by his uncle, and the little droid transmits a message from Princess Leia for Obi Wan, "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." Luke travels to find Obi Wan, learns that his aunt and uncle have been killed, and thus begins his adventures as a Jedi in training with Obi Wan.
In The Wizard of Oz, the inciting incident is when Dorothy is picked up by a cyclone.
In the Harry Potter series, the inciting incident is when Hagrid shows up on Harry's birthday, in spite of his family's attempts to avoid the invitations from Hogwarts, and tells Harry that he is a wizard and that he will be traveling to Hogwarts.
In The Hunger Games the inciting incident is when Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place in the games. She does it to protect her sister, but it begins the events of the plot that lead to her and Peeta having to compete against the other tributes to the death.
“Prim!” I don’t need to shove through the crowd. The other kids make way, immediately allowing me a straight path to the stage. I reach her just as she is about to mount the steps. With one sweep of my arm, I push her behind me. “I volunteer as tribute!” I gasp.
— The Hunger Games, p. 22
In The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the inciting incident is when Lucy unearths another world behind all of the fur coats in the wardrobe.
“This must be a simply enormous wardrobe!” thought Lucy, going still further in and pushing the soft folds of the coats aside to make room for her. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet … A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time, with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air.
— The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, p. 4
Research Author & Books
Step 1:
Create a Google Document and give it the title of Works Cited. This is where you will add citations for the resources used in finding information about your author and your book.
Step 2:
Open Citefast to create citations for resources.
Step 3:
Search the library's catalog for your novel. Type in the title of your book and hit the enter or search key.
Step 4:
Search the online databases below for articles and webpages on many titles and authors of literature.
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