Inciting Incident

August 27, 2009

Today I am studying inciting incident. When I developed my beat sheet, my co-author, Dino, offered some advice. "You need to define your inciting incident more clearly." This presents a challenge because I haven't yet decided WHICH inciting incident is THE inciting incident. My screenplay involves flashbacks, so does the inciting incident come from a present experience of my search to recall my past...or is the inciting incident that event that happened in the past that brought me to the place I am now? Now I'm really confused. Let's take a look at the definition of an inciting incident.

On Suite101.com, Peter Reeves suggests...

"The inciting incident is the moment or plot point in a script that kicks the story into motion. It occurs after the set up or exposition and everything that follows the inciting incident should be a result of the inciting incident. It is where a story really begins. It is that moment in the script where the protagonist’s world is turned upside down and he/she must then set about resolving the change in circumstances that the incident has brought about. It is generally a clear and defined moment that is easily identifiable."

I am faced with deciding if I can pull off an inciting incident in a past event (flashback) but still focus on the present search as the "action" of the play. I have some work to do. Today I will discover the inciting incident and continue redefining my beat sheet. I have 3 hours before the kids come home from school.