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Here’s 3 Quick Tips to Writing an Inciting Incident! #author #authortube #writing #writer #books

23 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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Three rules for writing an inciting incident: it must break the protagonist's status quo unexpectedly, create chaos they can't immediately fix, and not be caused by the protagonist themselves. A strong inciting incident grabs readers and propels the story forward.

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Here are the 3 rules to write a great inciting incident. Number 1, it has to break the status quo. Whatever your protagonist thought what was going to happen next, it has to break this. So it has to be unexpected. Number 2, it has to create chaos. Your protagonist can't know how to fix the problem. It has to throw them off balance. If they immediately know what to do next, the chaos it caused wasn't big enough. Number 3, the protagonist can't cause their own inciting incident. That by definition means it wasn't surprising. Inciting incidents how you grab the reader's attention and suck them into your story. So, use these rules to get it right. Subscribe for more writing tips.