inciting incident
Plot's first push
An inciting incident is the event that sets a story's main conflict in motion—the moment that disrupts the protagonist's ordinary world and launches the narrative.
In *The Wizard of Oz*, it's the tornado; in a mystery, the discovery of a body.
The term belongs to screenwriting and narrative theory: Every story needs a strong inciting incident to hook the audience.
- catalystAgent enabling change
- triggerWhat initiates action
- sparkTiny fiery particle
- turning pointDecisive moment of change
- point of no returnThreshold beyond which reversal impossible
conflict · protagonist · hero's journey · story · narrative · narrative arc · story beat · first act · rising action · disruption · call to adventure · crisis · event · plot · drama · dramatic tension · tension · upheaval
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
- literary elementsplot, character, setting, theme, narrator
- plotplot, storyline, subplot, climax, narrative
- plot elementsplot, protagonist, antagonist, main plot, subplot
- call to adventurequest, journey, mission, summons, challenge
- dramatic arcexposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
inciting incidentresolution
Formal decision or determination
denouement · conclusion · falling action · climax · wrap-up
inciting incidentresolution
Formal decision or determination
catharsis · release · dénouement · tension release · closure
inciting incidentstatus quo
Existing condition of affairs
equilibrium · stasis · ordinary world · normalcy · stability
incite, incited, incites, inciter, inciters, incitement, incitements, incident, incidents