BookCat, actually, the "whole 'inciting incident' thing" is partly where my current problems started. Well, that and trying to cheat it a bit (as many authors do) by starting the book with the main intrigue and then stepping back to where it started.
The initial/inspiring scene that I am trying to write a story around has a mysterious character and a companion in a peculiar situation. I soon saw why my mystery character was behaving in such a strange manner in this scene, but realised that I needed to bring some threads together to make it all work as an inciting incident. So I reached back what I thought was about two years and wrote about how my mystery character and the companion first met, and started to introduce the other characters that would play a part.
An additional complication was that I had, at the start, wanted to tell the story like a sort of fairy tale. It was this thought that was really where the initial scene came from. I'd not long re-read Neil Gaiman's "StarDust" and I love the way that reads; I was searching for my own fairy tale to tell.
At this point it all seemed like a great idea. I had the layout of the book planned out (unusual for me so early), although the actual plot was still very sketchy (pretty usual for me). Then, about 15-20 thousand words or so into it, reality began to bite.
I am not Neil Gaiman. I found I could not stay in the voice required to keep the fairy tale feel to the story. I'd like to blame the more contemporary setting of my story (mobile phones and cars aren't easy to fit into a fairy tale feel), but suspect it is probably just a lack of skill on my part. So that was the first part to get tossed out the window. No more fairy tale voice.
What was more pleasantly surprising was that I liked the meeting I had arranged for my main two characters and, even better, it moved along at a good pace. This was stuff I enjoyed and so hope a reader would too. The problem was (is) that it was (is) taking up more space than originally intended. It was supposed to be something brief, but my characters started enjoying themselves and insisting that
this was the story.
So the layout that I thought I had early on seems to have disappeared. The story I am telling now is quite different to what it was when I started. It is all very disconcerting. As strange as it might sound, it would be easier if I didn't think what I had written so far was working so well. In that case I would just throw it all out and start again. But since it is working, I think I will keep following it, see where it leads, and then worry about the overall structure when it's finally done.
All I need is time.
As for my previous advice: I'm always happy to pretend to be wise
. Take what you find useful, discard the rest.