Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregg Bell
That's just the sort of thing I'm looking for. (I copied and pasted it.) One final thing is bugging me.
So my protagonist is little by little becoming aware of what the antagonist is planning (the antagonist's dastardly deed). At the very beginning my protagonist knows something is going but isn't sure what. At 10% she's getting a rough idea of what's going on, but it's still very uncertain. At 25% it's substantially clearer. Then say at 50% she finds she wasn't quite right about her ideas about it. She has to re-adjust her thinking but now she's really pretty much on to the dastardly deed. And say at 75% she knows for absolute sure what the planned dastardly deed is. And then the rest of the book is her frantic rush to stop it from happening.
Does that sound about right?
See, I'm just so used to other books that say, 'get the inciting incident out in front of the readers RIGHT AWAY or you'll lose them.')
Thanks again.
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As I understand it the inciting incident doesn't have to be something that's right in the character's face. It's just something that starts to bring the character's attention to what is going on. in "Hound of the Baskervilles" the inciting incident is that Dr. Mortimer (who has left his walking stick behind him) at Holmes rooms after calling on him and Dr. Watson returns for it and tells them of the legend of the hound and the death of Sir Charles Baskerville. He's seeking advice on what to do with Sir Henry Baskerville who is to inherit the estate. Up til that time Holmes knew nothing of the family or the legend. They then meet Sir Henry and learn of the incident of a missing boot and the story goes on from there.
In "Murder on the Orient Express" the inciting incident is that M. Poirot is traveling back to England after solving a mystery for someone he knew long ago. He takes a berth on the Orient Express and a man approaches him wanting to employ him as a bodyguard. He refuses and the man is later found murdered.
In "A Christmas Carol" all seems right in Scrooge's world he has no desire to change and then Marley's Ghost appears to him and the story is off. You don't need a big incident to start with, just one that matters to the character. Holmes interest is piqued by a new client, Poirot wants to know why the man was murdered, Scrooge finds that he is to be haunted by three spirits of Christmas.