Welcome to the Inciting Incident of Change

Writing the start of a novel is really hard, especially when I'm anxious to write the "really good" parts first. I suppose I could start with the "really good" parts, but then I run into the issue of people not being attached enough to the characters to care about what's happening to them. I can't just start with action, that might leave the readers confused. And characters need to be invested in what's going on around them for readers to become invested.

For example, how often do you walk to your desk to find your phone with a hundred rubber bands around it?

All this was going through my head while trying to start a novel and justify why this one specific character had the main point of view. 

I'm currently trying to get back into the swing of writing this novel, but I admit that it's been hard. For a while I couldn't quite figure out why I'd been struggling, but now I think I do (other than the whole not finding time to sit and write issue - that's something else entirely).

It's supposed to be a horror coming of age story. One where two boys are going to a supposedly cursed high school where they feel oppressed by the administration and their peers are dying in horrific "accidents". There's also a mysterious girl that one of the boys has a crush on, while the other finds her extremely annoying (she really likes the color pink).

A rough picture of what the "love interest" looks like

This story, in theory, should be easy for me to write. I've long since survived high school and coming of age stories are everywhere. Horror has often featured teenagers in the narrative, especially in the campy horror movies that were snuck into middle school sleepover parties.

Despite the vast number of genre examples I can pull from, I also need to balance the cliche with novelty. I need a reason for people to pick my story to read. It has to be genre compliant and just different enough to stand out.

And this balance has to be established right at the beginning.

The inciting incident is the hook that catches the reader and keeps them reading. This usually happens within the first chapter of the novel with a similar incident happening by the end of chapter 3. It's the event that launches the story from "another day in the life of" to "I'm going on an adventure!"

It's when the writer asks, "what's different about today?"

For my story, this happens when the protagonist starts his first day of freshmen year at a "cursed" high school. That small change to my character's world changes his life forever. It's not too dissimilar from the start of other coming of age stories. Mine just happens to include murderous ghosts to go along with the huge pile of homework.

So if you're struggling with the start of your story or novel, be sure to ask yourself what the change to your character's routine is. Maybe they go to a new coffee shop or a person was rude to them at a restaurant. It could be that the sky lit up bright orange in the middle of the night or cat followed them home.

A change in my everyday routine doesn't always lead to a crazy adventure, but in the world of fiction it can be the difference of winning the lottery or ending up in outer space with weird guy in a blue police box.

Until next week.

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