I found myself at a standstill in the script. Luckily I knew why.
Writing the story line by line had gotten me as far as it could. It was time to plan out the story at the macro level.
I had my protagonist complete. And since the antagonist was just going to be the opposite of him it’s kind of like two characters are complete.
As for the story structure, every writer knows you need a beginning, middle, and end.
The most important part of the beginning is called the “inciting incident.” It is a fancy vocabulary term for whatever gets your story going.
In “Star Wars” it’s when Luke finds the voicemail from Princess Laya.
In “The Tree of Life” it’s when the universe starts.
In “Up” it’s when the old man abducts the child.
And in the script I’m writing, it is when Clive Jackman finds the dead body.
Now I know what you’re thinking: when should this inciting incident occur?
Some will tell you it should occur halfway through the first act. Others will tell you it should occur after you’ve established your world. And if these answers sound a little confusing or vague, you’re in luck because they are wrong.
The inciting incident should occur as soon as possible.
After all, it is the event that hooks your reader.
For this reason, I made it the first line in the story.
INT. ABATTOIR – FADING DUSK
CLIVE JACKMAN stumbles upon the lifeless corpse, confused and afraid.
Now I know what many of you are thinking: isn’t that technically the second line? The slug line is the first line.
I know you’re thinking this because I had the same thought first. For that reason, I changed it up:
The lifeless body stared back at him.
INT. ABATTOIR – FADING DUSK
CLIVE JACKMAN stood over the corpse…
A lot of script purists will tell you this not only breaks rules that have been in place for decades but is also difficult to understand.
Thankfully, the rules are meant to be broken and the inciting incident needs to occur as early as possible. That is why I recommend making it the first line in whatever script you are writing.
However I wasn’t satisfied. I needed to set myself apart.
After all, any writer can make the first line of their script the inciting incident and I will have lost my advantage.
I needed to get across the inciting incident before the first line.
And then it hit me.
The title.
The title of the story needed to be the inciting incident.
For this reason, I retitled “The Thousand Yard Grave” to “He Finds a Body.”
Wow.
Now the reader gets to the inciting incident before even opening the script. There is literally no way to make the inciting incident occur any earlier in the script.
NEXT TIME: How to hook the reader with only the return address on the envelope you send the script in.
Aspiring Writer 