Every story involves a goal. Knowing what characters want helps us understand what they’re doing and why. So when writing a story, always make a goal clear so characters must struggle to achieve it.
The four main types of goals in any story are:
- Initial question
- Hero’s dream
- Symbol of Hope
- Big lie
The initial question occurs in the first scene and gets answered in the end. This initial question starts with an inciting incident. This inciting incident starts the entire story, even if the events may not seem to make sense at the time.
In “Wargames”, the opening scene shows two men in a blizzard walking into a seemingly ordinary house. Then this house turns out to be fake and it’s revealed that it’s actually a secret military missile launch outpost.
Suddenly the two missile men are given orders to launch their missiles. After trying to reach a military commander by phone to verify their orders, one missile man decides not to turn his key to launch the missiles and the scene ends with the other missile man threatening to shoot him unless he turns the key.
The inciting incident is that one missile man refuses orders to launch his nuclear missiles. Then the initial question is what will happen if people can’t be trusted to launch a nuclear war even when given orders to do so?
Because people won’t always follow orders to start a nuclear war, this incident starts the story going as the military decides to give a computer complete control over launching nuclear missiles. Then the story shows what happens if a computer can decide to start World War III while humans are helpless to stop it.
This is how the following movies start the story going with an inciting incident that poses an initial question:
“Jurassic Park”
- Inciting incident – An unseen animal attacks and mauls a man as they’re trying to transport it in a container.
- Initial question – What attacked the man and what were they trying to do with this animal?
“Pulp Fiction”
- Inciting incident – A couple decides to rob a coffee shop.
- Initial question – Will the couple successfully rob the coffee shop and get away with it?
“Alien”
- Inciting incident – A starship crew is awakened early after the starship detects a mysterious signal.
- Initial question – What is this mysterious signal and what does it mean?
“Sleepless in Seattle”
- Inciting incident – A man has just lost his wife and must care for his son.
- Initial question – Will this man ever find a new woman to love?
The inciting incident grabs our attention but leaves us with questions since we don’t know what’s going on or who might be involved. To get these answers, we have to wait for the story to reveal this information to us as it gradually answers this initial question.
The inciting incident serves two purposes:
- Get the story started
- Summarizes what the whole story is about
A story exists to explain the answer to the initial question. Notice how the end to the following movies finally answers the initial question:
“Jurassic Park”
- Answer – A dinosaur attacked the man because scientists brought dinosaurs to life. At the end, the people abandon the dinosaur park when they realize they can’t control it.
“Pulp Fiction”
- Answer – The couple successfully robs the coffee shop and get away with it but only after a reformed hit man lets them go.
“Alien”
- Answer – The mysterious signal was a warning to stay away from a vicious life form that’s a perfect killer.
“Sleepless in Seattle”
- Answer – The man eventually finds a new woman to love even though the man and woman live in completely different cities.
The initial question and answer combines to tell a complete story. The inciting incident essentially encapsulates what the entire story is about. In “Wargames” the inciting incident is about men hesitant to launch nuclear missiles and start World War III. Thus the entire story is about whether it’s better to have a computer control nuclear missiles instead of humans.
In “Jurassic Park” the inciting incident is about men failing to control a dinosaur in an amusement park. Thus the entire story is about how humans can’t control the dinosaurs they created at all.
In “Pulp Fiction” the inciting incident is a couple robbing a coffee shop but only getting away with it because of a reformed hit man. Thus the entire story is how this hit man changed and what happens to people who do or don’t reform their lives. (The ones who reform their lives live and the ones who fail to reform their lives die.)
In “Alien” the inciting incident is a mysterious signal awakening a starship crew. Thus the entire story is about investigating this signal and learning that it’s a warning to avoid a killer creature.
In “Sleepless in Seattle” the inciting incident is the man at his wife’s funeral and looking to move on while caring for his son. Thus the entire story is about how this man tries to find love again, unexpectedly getting help from his son.
If you just start with an initial question and an answer, you can define what your story is about. Then create an inciting incident that gets your story started but more importantly, encapsulates your whole story in a single scene.
This is how the inciting incident represents the entire story in the following movies:
“Moneyball”
- Inciting incident – The Oakland A’s baseball team loses the American League division series to the New York Yankees.
- Initial question – How can the Oakland A’s compete against teams like the New York Yankees when their payroll is only $39 million while the Yankees’ payroll is $114 million?
- Answer – The Oakland A’s use money ball, a way to find inexpensive players that other teams overlook.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”
- Inciting incident – A squadron of torpedo bombers, minus their crew, have mysteriously appeared in Mexico. Not only do they look in mint condition, they still have fuel in their tanks even though they’ve been missing since 1945.
- Initial question – Where did these planes and their crew go all these years and what happened to them?
- Answer – Scientists contact extra terrestrials who land in a flying saucer and return the missing bomber crews.
“Tangled”
- Inciting incident – The villain kidnaps Rapunzel for her magic hair and keeps her imprisoned in a tower.
- Initial question – Will Rapunzel ever get back home again to her real parents?
- Answer – Rapunzel learns she’s the missing princess and eventually gets back to her real parents.
The inciting incident poses an initial question that only gets answered in the end. Together this initial question and answer define the entire story. The inciting incident acts like a smaller version of the overall story.
With your own screenplay, make sure your inciting incident is exciting, compelling, and answered only in the end what it means. The inciting incident is the unanswered question that keeps your audience wondering what will happen next.
(Updated versions of “The 15-Minute Movie Method“, “Story Starter“, “Emotional Log Lines” and “Writing Scenes For Screenplays” are now available on Amazon.)
