Why Start With the Inciting Incident?
Create Your CANON Storyworld With Me!
Welcome to the Apple Hair CANON!
Here, I’ll explore creating a fictional universe, and I’m hoping you’ll follow along with your own world. I’m by no means an expert, so let’s discuss how to create a believable, magical, and captivating world. Let’s be storycatchers together!
Want to read Apple Hair, the boy band fantasy novel, from the very beginning? You can start here! Apple Hair is a fictional, Asian American boy band from Hawaii.
Welcome to the newsletter, and I’m excited to lay down the foundations of our story worlds together, one word at a time.
In my last post, I talked about my inspo for Apple Hair—what gave life to the storyworld, along with the “first day” that began their true journey to debut.
I wanted to talk more about creating a storyworld. For me, I think about worldbuilding most when creating an epic fantasy. It can be quite addicting—to think about language, religion, politics, and more when creating a new world. A lot of writers find this part the most exciting. Some writers even get stuck here!
Are you a worldbuilding fan? When do you draw the line and say “that’s enough, let me get started with the first chapter!”?
I do get lost in the concept phase sometimes—the mood I want to evoke, the type of vibe I want my story to center around. However, when I really want to get started with the writing, I must know several story beats. The first one I flesh out? The inciting incident.
Sure, with Apple Hair, I spent some time writing how I wanted the fantasy world to interact with Hawaii. However, I wanted to know the inciting incident early. This is the story beat that will set the hero(es) on their adventure, making them shift from “everyday” life into something different, something they must overcome or explore.
Let’s go back to the fantasy story example. In this case, the inciting incident might be receiving a special power that will deem the hero as a potential threat to the wicked king.
Apple Hair is a contemporary light fantasy, so I had to be intentional about choosing the inciting incident, making sure it’s grounded in reality and the aspirations of each of the five members. I don’t think it spoils too much about the story, so I’ll tell you: the inciting incident occurs when the five boy band members decide on the name Apple Hair, committing to debuting as a group together no matter the difficulties.
This inciting incident is more intentional. However, great inciting incidents can also be coincidental. For you romance lovers, it could be the cute nextdoor neighbor moving in and initiating an awkward first meeting. For a mystery, the genre-convention is the discovery of a dead body.
The reason the inciting incident is so powerful is that it will be the guide for your story—it will be the arrow shot in the direction you want your character(s) to go. Also, it will help you focus on the important parts where you should expand on in your worldbuilding. For example, if your inciting incident is the discovery of a new secret power by the protagonist, you can focus on the magic system more. Worldbuilding can be overwhelming and scary, but the inciting incident will help you narrow it down a bit.
Apple Hair’s inciting incident may not be a huge event, but it fashions them into a group that’s serious on chasing their dreams to debut on the world stage.
Have you already decided on the inciting incident for your story? How do you feel about the incident that you chose? Are you excited? Nervous? Maybe even a bit unsure? Let me know by jumping into my Chat or replying to my latest Note! If you’ve created many inciting incidents already, let me know too! I am curious about where you are in your writing journey. I don’t like to use the words “ameteur” or “pro” as I think we all have 100s of more things to learn about writing.
For my paid subscribers, here’s a link to early access to Debut in Broad Daylight. I appreciate you very much! A reminder that this is a very rough draft—meaning very unedited! You’re getting the first sneak peek, and the boy band members are glad you’re getting an early start with them.
In the next post, I’ll be talking about why I decided to include the “dream world” as a major part of the Apple Hair world, along with my struggles about blurring the lines between contemporary and fantasy. I’m hoping and praying that the CANON will add value to your life as a creator/writer!