I recently finished the very enjoyable Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, and wanted to jot down a quick note about the inciting incidents .
Almost every novel has an inciting incident -- the event that gets the story started. I found the ones in this series particularly engaging, and I think it's because they have several things going for them.
1. They're game changers. Well, this is kind of the definition of an inciting incident, but the incidents in these three books really shake things up. Actually, all three involve moving the character to a new physical location, which contributes to the sense of change, I think. In addition, all of these incidents involve changes in character relationships as well as character goals.
2. They're action packed scenes. Not that every story needs this, but it sure is exciting.
3. They have a large cast of characters. Again creates the sense of excitement.
So readers, what do you think? Any good inciting incidents come to mind?
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Oh! I'm reading the second one now, Siege and Storm. So I don't know anything about the third volume yet, but I'm hooked. There's certainly plenty of action. And I'm loving that the physical location changes.
ReplyDeleteA book I read recently was Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. Not as much action because Maddie is sick and confined to her sterile house, so I'd say the inciting incident is when Olly moves in with his family next door. That's when everything begins to change.
Yeah, I'm just starting to realize the impact of a setting change in a story.
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