This week’s video uses the classic western film True Grit to explain why it’s sometimes wisest to open your story before the inciting event.
Video Transcription: Writers can’t afford to waste readers’ time or test their patience by meandering about in their opening scenes. We have to get right to the point. Often, that means opening right at the moment when our character’s world is changed forever—otherwise known as the inciting event. The idea is that if we open at a moment of fever-pitch tension, readers won’t be able to stop turning the pages, and there’s no question this is often the most effective way to begin a story.
However, some stories work much better if we first take the time to introduce the character in his “normal world,” before the inciting event comes blasting into view. Doing so, allows us to provide contrast with the difficulties to follow and can also up the tension by showing what’s at stake for the character if he fails. The classic western True Grit
gives us a good example. If the movie had opened with the inciting event—the murder of protagonist Mattie Ross’s father—we would have lost both the opportunity to immediately identify with Mattie (played by Kim Darby) as the main character and to witness the loving relationship between her and her father.
Director Henry Hathaway slowed down enough at the beginning to offer viewers a few quick scenes, showing the Rosses’ farm, Mattie’s family, the murderer Tom Cheney’s relationship with them, and particularly the interaction between Mattie and her doomed father. As a result, when a drunken Cheney kills Frank Ross a few scenes later, we care about what’s just happened—and we’re completely on board when Mattie decides to track down her father’s killer. Sometimes it pays to take our time!
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Today, I’m honored to be hosted on the Conquering Writer's Block & Summoning Inspiration blog tour by Carrie Kei Heim Binas. Be sure to stop by her blog to read the guest post "How to Train Your Muse (The Demerit System)." Below is a sneak peek:
We’re accustomed to think of our muse as a whimsical and erratic fairy-like creature, or perhaps a wise old prophet forever stroking his beard and poking his spectacles up higher on the bridge of his nose. Either way, the muse often seems untouchable. Fairies and prophets aren’t likely to listen to the entreaties of mere mortals like ourselves, so all we can do is wait around until they start thinking kind thoughts about us. Right?
Related Posts: Maximize Your Inciting Event
9 Ways to Strengthen Your Beginning
Utilize Character in Your Opening Scene
Story by K.M. Weiland
Tags: beginnings , in medias res , inciting event , normal world , SYN
AAAHHHHH, I love you, KM!!!! :D THIS is what I've been trying to tell people about my manuscript. My story has some intrigue in the beginning, some strange things occurring that are somewhat subtle, but the inciting event doesn't happen right off. It can't. It would mean nothing without knowing what my main character has to give up when she makes her choice.
Thank you, thank you, for posting this!!!!
Great entry. Thank you!
@Kat: Interesting characters and unanswered questions are often enough to carry a story up to the inciting event (see my post on Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride) - especially if the reader is already aware of the inciting event via the back cover.
@girlseeksplace: You're welcome. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Good stuff. I always hear about starting with excitement, but you're right, we need to care first. Maybe there's a good way to weave them both in ;o)
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, yes, it's definitely possible to do both. And there are many good books and movies that exemplify this technique.
Love the video approach. This is my first visit to your sight and I'll be back.
I certainly agree with what you are saying here. It depends a lot on what kind of story you want to tell and what the story is.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Thanks, Arlee! The videos have been a fun project. Every story is different. If we fall into the trap of treating them the same, we're crippling ourselves.
I think that providing a hook into your story is very important. As an author you have to give me, the reader, a reason to keep turning the pages. At the same time you don't have to necessarily have to show me the inciting event, as long as you give me a reason to stick with it until you do.
Of course this varies with the length of your work, in short stories you need to get to the point pretty quickly if you don't do it right out of the gate.
This is a great post, and you used a perfect example.
Nice point about the back cover. I can't count how many times I was tense waiting for what I knew was going to happen to rip the protagonist's normal life to shreds. A little knowledge goes a long way.
A staid beginning (not too long, of course) is also a nice time to drop in tidbits that will come into play later -- a cross look from a rival, the unrest of the land, a protagonist's thoughts of a lover, etc.
@Jeff: Entertainment - even in meatier, more intellectual stories - is the name of the game. Keep the reader entertained, and he really won't care if you're following the "rules" or not.
@Jonathan: The lull before the storm - when done well - is often one of the most interesting bits of artistic freedom in a story.