What is an inciting incident? It’s something that happens to your protagonist that changes the direction of his/her life. The option to remain in the status quo is taken completely off the table. It needs to happen in the first quarter of your story. If you wait any longer, your readers will yawn, reach for a final sip of their warm milk, and mosey off to bed. 
And you don’t have to wait that long. You can start as early as you like. Some books begin with a bang, and the action never lets up. That bang is the inciting incident.
Since no inciting incident equals no story, you need something more than a dropped toothbrush.
Are you having trouble thinking of inciting incidents to get your story moving? Here’s a list of twenty. Feel free to use any of them.
20 inciting incident ideas:
- You break a leg
- You find a briefcase full of one-hundred-dollar bills
- Your doctor says you only have three months to live
- You get fired
- You move to a new city or country
- You find that your husband/wife is having an affair
- You run away from home
- Your spouse asks for a divorce
- Your best friend betrays you
- You run into an old boyfriend who’s still into you
- One of your closest loved ones dies
- You start a new job
- You get a new boss
- You get a promotion
- Your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere
- You’re caught in a natural disaster
- You get kidnapped
- You lose your child while shopping
- You find out you have a stalker
- Your house burns down in the middle of the night
Have other ideas for inciting incidents? Comment below, or email me.
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As always, Thank you! Happy Reading! Happy Writing!
Shirley Holder Platt
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash