STRUCTURING YOUR NOVEL
‘The inciting incident is how you get (characters) to do something. It’s the doorway through which they can’t return, you know. The story takes care of the rest.’
~ Donald Miller
When writing any novel, you are putting characters into situations to create problems, conflict and tension. So, when you think about the structure of your novel, it is a good idea to consider the following points for your main protagonist, and your antagonist:
Inciting incident: What is the one thing that hooks your reader into the story? This is when an event thrusts the protagonist into the main action of the story. This could be considered, ‘the call to adventure or action.’
Give your inciting incident urgency.
Continually raise questions for your reader about what the characters. motivations are, and what they will/should do next.
Use your inciting incident to illustrate key aspects of your characters.
Set the tone for your story. This is about mood, atmosphere. Is the claustrophobic town that your character lives in, creating the tone for the story? Is the mother-in-law getting in your character’s way or is she being treated unfairly?
Know where in the story the inciting incident occurs. This has to take place in the first act of your story (if you are thinking about your story having three acts: beginning, middle and end). This is non-negotiable; it is the catalyst that sets your story in motion. Without an inciting incident, there is a risk your story will meander aimlessly.
Develop your inciting incident by ensuring your main protagonist isn’t passive. In other words, he or she needs to be seen to be actively trying to overcome barriers and doesn't just allow stuff to happen and then react. They must have a goal and be seen to be striving to overcome the issues created by the inciting incident, and despite other barriers coming at them from all angles as the book progresses.
Think about the pace of your novel as a wave. Something happens to create tension, the next chapter is the character(s) dealing with the fallout of that tension, what follows is more tension, more fallout and so on, until you reach the climax and all seems lost, only for the protagonist to win through. The tensions you create throughout the novel should build in intensity to a point where your protagonist thinks he/she has solved the problems (midpoint of your novel) only to realise he/she hasn’t. The remainder of the novel then deals with solving that problem and reaching a resolution at a point when ‘all seems lost.’
Have Fun and share any questions in the comments box below.