Inciting Incidents that Propel the Plot

Video Transcript

"STEVE CAVERNO: Hi, I'm Steve Caverno on behalf of Expert Village. And today, I'll be talking to you about developing your plot. Next, we're going to talk about the inciting incident. This is what happens to propel the story into motion. In Romeo and Juliet, this is that moment at the Capulet ball where Romeo and Juliet meet eyes with each other. They fall in love at first sight. And that is what propels the story into motion. And then they have their moment on the balcony which furthers that moment. But that moment is the inciting incident; when that first happens. And so, when this--when we look at a story, you gotta find a moment where the status quo is interrupted and the car veers forward, the engine gets cranked, whatever happen, to bring your story into motion. Sometimes, it can be something like a death--someone kills someone like in Hamlet. Hamlet reveals that his father was killed by his uncle. And that moment when Hamlet's father tells him that his uncle was a murderer, that propels the motion into the very end of the play. Hamlet, at that point, has resolved that he is going to solve the mystery of his father's death and avenge his father's death. So, this is how we create a plot. This is how we create the conflict."