It’s
day nine, and we’ve waded through the shallow end of the plotting pool. Now
it’s time for deeper waters. Today we’re really going to start delving into
story architecture and plotting. If you’re a hardcore pantser this is likely to
make you break out in hives. Don’t give up on me yet--we’re not going to do
architecture/structure stuff every day. Not unless you want to have a headache
or anxiety attacks for the next 22 days.
But
if you’re open-minded to the idea of plotting or are revising a WIP, this is
good stuff for analyzing your plot. Most of the “keywords” I’ll mention in
these plotting posts are from Larry Brooks’
series on story structure (i.e. 6 core competencies). That’s because his
definitions and explanations make sense to me in a more concrete way than any
other method of plotting I’ve tried.
It
works for me. It won’t work for everyone.
But
if you’re a plotter and you haven’t read his series on NaNoWriMo, you
really should.
During
this month, whenever I’m doing one of these plot posts, I’ll use concrete
examples from HARRY POTTER & THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE by JK Rowling,
DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth, and THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. If you’ve
never read any of these I can’t help you. No for
real, go read these books! Then come back to my blog. :)
Today’s
“term” is Inciting Incident—which
means a lot of different things depending on whose story structure theory
you’re reading. For me the inciting incident is exactly what it sounds like—an
incident in your story that incites everything that happens in your book.
Typically the inciting incident is something that happens to your main character. It is the first important moment without
which nothing that happens in your book can happen. And this occurs very early
in your book.
Today’s
concrete examples:
THE HUNGER GAMES: Prim’s name is drawn in
the reaping.
HARRY POTTER & THE PHILOSPHER’S STONE:
An owl attempts to deliver a letter to Harry at his Aunt and Uncle’s house.
DIVERGENT: Beatrice receives inconclusive
results on her faction test.
TODAY’S LINKS:
The inciting incident is a book’s catalyst. So what’s yours?
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