comicsforbeginners.com/ What catapults your hero from the first act into the second is often referred to as "the Inciting Incident". But what is that exactly and how do you go about creating one?
This video uses music from soundviva.com
comicsforbeginners.com/ What catapults your hero from the first act into the second is often referred to as "the Inciting Incident". But what is that exactly and how do you go about creating one?
This video uses music from soundviva.com
I get so much from these short clips. Thank you sir!
Thanks! Glad u find it helpful.
Great balance between the background music and the talking! (Great pointers on storytelling too, as always :D )
Thanks, Ian! Glad I got the sound right this time :-)
I'm Always learning from you sir 🙂
Thank you.
Thank you, Palle.
Your videos are so helpful im so glad i found your chanel
Much appreciated, Roman! Thanks!
'But then' only works in certain situations. In other situations, it can be a very bad idea. Imagine a story told by a 1st-P protagonist as the story happens, as opposed to a story told in 3rd-p (where the author is a disembodied sentience telling the story) told in past tense (and this can be accomplished without using YA simple present tense). 'But then' should be restricted to 3rd-p past tense if you want it to work well. In a 1st-P present day scene or story, the protagonist is the narrator. For them to mention 'then' as an aspect of when something happens, implies the past, or at a minimum, a jump in time to the past (they have not experienced what happens next yet, so there can be no jump to the future). True, they can reference the past, and they can relate flashbacks, but in the present day scenes, being told as they happen, 'then' typically just does not fit, unless it is used as a reference to something that has already happened, which again, is always going to be a reference to something from the past, either the immediate past or the distant past, or something in between. 'Now' might fit, if used properly. But 'then', makes no sense at all and undermines the fact that the story is being told as it happens. Using it there is a very bad idea. And what does 'but' even mean? If we use the Cambridge dictionary definition, what it is (in this usage) is a coordinating conjunction, a linking word that connects two ideas that contrast with each other. Is it really even necessary? No. If you show the first idea and then show the second idea, the concept of 'but' is implied. The word itself is then superfluous. Repetitive. And being superfluous and repetitive violates the basic cardinal rules governing good writing. The reader will see the contrast all on their own. They don't need a 'but'. I suggest not overusing that word. So it does make sense for a writer to think in terms of 'but then' when creating a scene, but placing it directly in the text is an entirely different animal, and should be done with caution. It's not a shortcut to good writing. There are no shortcuts.
What would be the difference between The Inciting Incident and The First Turning Point?
In some models it's one and the same.To answer your specific question I would say the Inciting Incident is the event (Stormtroopers burn down Luke's farm) and the 1st Turning Point is when the protagonist takes action, reacts to the event (flies of on the Millenium Falcon). But in this example, there are plenty of other important events that COULD be labelled one or the other; Meeting the two droids, the message from Leia, the encounter with Ben Kenobi etc. You could also call any one of these the Point of Attack; the point where we get a hint at troubles to come. The problem with these models is they are made for analysis not creation. We could argue all day on what to call things but the emphasis for me here is to give a tool for setting your protagonist on the path. Sometimes it can be a whole sequence of events, not a specific point on a timeline. Hope this answers your question!
@@comicsforbeginners Thank you!
@@jdsantibanez Just found this quote from Craig Mazin of Scritnotes, that sums it up perfectly: "It’s all done from the point of view of analysis. They look at things, they take them apart, and then they say, look, all these pieces fit into this swirly shape, or this diamond. The issue is that’s not going to help you actually write anything because when you write you’re starting from scratch. You’re not breaking something apart. You’re building something out of nothing. And when you’re building something out of nothing you need a different set of instructions"
@@comicsforbeginners That's partly right. But while an inciting incident and a turning point can both happen nearly in the same moment, they are never, never, never 'one and the same' thing. An inciting incident is an event that upsets the status quo, and it is nothing more than that. It is completely disembodied from the protagonist. It may have an effect on the protagonist's ordinary world, but that is all it does, and it does that without consideration, and without knowledge of the protagonist or what effect it might have on them. It's just 'something that happens', and nothing more, even if why it happens is bc of a villain, or the environment itself, or some reason wholly disconnected from a motivated change expected to affect the protagonist, such as the 'lovers meet' moment in a courtship love story (which in that genre is the inciting incident). A turning point (there is one in every scene) is the moment the protagonist realizes that they will have to make a choice and do something to cope with whatever the inciting incident has changed in their environment, and that is entirely distinct from the inciting incident. It's the protagonist thinking about what to do next and knowing they must act. It is precipitated by the inciting incident, but it is never actually the inciting incident. Conflating the two only creates confusion in the author and in the writing process. Understanding the distinction between the two clarifies the writing process. It is completely unimportant for the reader to understand this at all, but it could not be more imperative for the author to understand this. So the turning point always comes after the inciting incident, and is an entirely separate element of a scene or story. Sometimes progressive complications are what lead from the inciting incident to the turning point, and sometimes those are not required. Sometimes the choice made implies a dilemma, a difficulty in the choice made, and sometimes it doesn't. The decision made bc of the turning point is what leads to the action taken, which represents the climax of the scene (or the story-these elements are in every scene, but there are also core versions of them relevant to the story arc), which then leads to the resolution-'how has what happened changed the world surrounding the protagonist?' It really is no more complicated than that.
Well presented points all-around, but this guy kzhead.info/sun/naehoKV_f3x5ZpE/bejne.html would disagree with you on the inciting incident needing to take place early in the story or else readers would put down your book (or give up on your work as it were). We understand both of your points though, just as we understand these are merely rules of thumb and will always have exceptions. Whatever works! But they must work. :) Cheers!