How to open a story...

bretwieseler · Apr 11, 2009

I'm fairly certain that I understand common plot structure that opens the story with the protagonist in their life "as usual" and then throws them into turmoil, setting them on a journey to resolve the conflict set about at the beginning of the story.

That being said, what if the idea I have has the protagonist already in the midst of a physical journey, where the true journey of the story is more spiritual and psychological? Imagine a character who has just undergone a huge tragedy, who is essentially drifting as a result of not being able to cope. The main body of the story will concern the protagonist's reawakening, with the mystery of how he got to be this way gradually unfolding over the course of the story.

How do you open a story essentially after the inciting incident? Or is it a simple matter or going back to the drawing board.

Are there any good examples that have the protagonists already in transition at the onset of the story? Maybe this is a no-brainer for some writers, but I'm having a tough time laying out the plot without relying on flash-backs and exposition.

My apologies if this post makes absolutely no sense.

Thanks in advance.

Stijn Hommes · Apr 11, 2009

I don't see any problem. Starting in the action and gradually reveal how the MC got there seems a perfectly reasonable approach to me. I'm not interested in a characters everyday life. I want to get to the interesting stuff first.

As for examples. For Cole the story of "The Sixth Sense" starts well after the inciting incident. To the viewer it looks like it does for Malcolm too (until you get to the end).

It's hard to come up with specifics from the top of my head, but there's literally hundreds of films and novels that use this approach. Often it's recommended to do it as you describe.

ricetalks · Apr 11, 2009

American Beauty. Same idea. 'In a few days I'll be dead. But I don't know that yet."

Start at the end. A "This is me. Let me tell you how things got so bad" type of story.

shokadh · Apr 11, 2009

I think this would work well written from first POV, working in more and more hints as to what the MC is "coming back to" or his spiritual journey or whatever. As Rice and Stijn mentioned, working your way from "the end" back to the inciting incident, then continue to the final leg of the journey.

That sure sounded better in my head than in print. Sorry... :Shrug:

nmstevens · Apr 11, 2009

bretwieseler said:
I'm fairly certain that I understand common plot structure that opens the story with the protagonist in their life "as usual" and then throws them into turmoil, setting them on a journey to resolve the conflict set about at the beginning of the story.

That being said, what if the idea I have has the protagonist already in the midst of a physical journey, where the true journey of the story is more spiritual and psychological? Imagine a character who has just undergone a huge tragedy, who is essentially drifting as a result of not being able to cope. The main body of the story will concern the protagonist's reawakening, with the mystery of how he got to be this way gradually unfolding over the course of the story.

How do you open a story essentially after the inciting incident? Or is it a simple matter or going back to the drawing board.

Are there any good examples that have the protagonists already in transition at the onset of the story? Maybe this is a no-brainer for some writers, but I'm having a tough time laying out the plot without relying on flash-backs and exposition.

My apologies if this post makes absolutely no sense.

Thanks in advance.

What you're describing, in fact, is extremely common. In fact, it's the standard way of starting a story -- on it's feet. In the midst of action.

Die Hard starts in the midst of action. McClain is already in the middle of his story -- he's flying in to meet his wife to try to reconcile. And that story -- the story of him trying to reconcile with his wife, plays out over the whole course of the movie.

And as that story proceeds, we introduce the "terrorists" -- who are coming in, in the midst of carrying out their plan. Everything is ready, everything has been laid out. This is the "execution phase" -- we're coming in in the midst of it (which is why we don't find out until way later what it is that they're actually planning).

On the Waterfront -- we come in *in the middle* of a murder being carried out -- with our main character right in the middle of it, not realizing that he's being used.

Beginning writers misunderstand this idea of introducing a character as they "normally are" to mean, we've got to show them going about their normal lives.

That's not the idea. What you need to do is to introduce the character *as they are* at the beginning, so that we get to a sort of "working theory" of how they are up front.

That is, for lack of a better term, their "normal state" -- essentially what the story is going to do is show a character undergoing a kind of transformation -- a testing.

Character starts out in this mode -- the "initial condition" -- that would the "normal state" -- then he will be subjected to the events of the story. Then, as a result of going through those events, he will come out the other end in some other way. A transformed state.

The trick is to reveal that initial state not through scenes showing him getting up in the morning and having breakfast and going to work. The trick is to reveal that initial state -- his "normal state" -- through action. That means through having him face initial problems and make initial decisions that reveal that "set point" -- that initial state.

When we meet Indiana Jones at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark -- that's his "normal state." That wild action reveals it.

When we meet Terry Malloy at the beginning of On the Waterfront, him being used and sort of being uncomfortable about it -- but still kind of going along because he has no real moral sense -- that's *his* normal state. But you need that *action* to reveal it. Showing him hanging out and having drinks or doing typical things doesn't illuminate that.

John McClain flying in to meet his wife and then screwing up and being insecure about her success -- not being able to make the right decisions about that, but *being* able to make the right decisions when the gunmen come in -- that reveals his "initial state" to us.

That sets up what's "normal" for John McClain - not scenes of him doing "normal" things.

NMS

Stijn Hommes · Apr 12, 2009

nmstevens, really captured the idea well. You don't need the normal everyday wake-up scene to show what someone is like before the story started.

Raghu · Apr 13, 2009

There are two issues that you wanted to be clarified, one being the act of starting a screenplay in the middle of action and the other about starting a script after the inciting incident. Since the others have dealt with the former, I'll stick to discussing the latter.

It is imperative that one understands the difference between story and story structure. A character who has just undergone a huge tragedy, who is essentially drifting as a result of not being able to cope is story. How you present it on screen is your story structure.

Needless to say every script has to follow the format of the hero's journey, or the three-act structure. In essence the screenplay should progress along the following lines.

Exposition / Conflict / Rising Action / Falling action and Denouement.

The inciting incident is the crux around which the script revolves and it goes without saying that a good screenplay should contain an extraordinary inciting incident, well placed in it. To drive home the importance of the inciting incident I have shown several definitions of it by leading screenwriters.

The INCITING INCIDENT radically upsets the balance of forces in the protagonist’s life.

The hero is presented with a problem, challenge, or adventure to undertake. Once presented with a Call to Adventure, she can no longer remain indefinitely in the comfort of the Ordinary World

It’s a self-initated action, a virtual “big bang” that sets the entire plot in motion, that can be committed by either the protagonist or antagonist, and that is an act of pure will.

Early on in the film there will be an event which changes the normal scheme of things and forces the protagonist in a new direction, effectively starting the story. This is called a catalyst or disturbance.

The catalyst is the first main “push” that gets the plot moving. Something happens, or someone makes a decision. The main character is set in motion. The story has begun.

There are instances when the appearance and placement of the inciting incident has been played around with. In Thelma and Louise, Louise's rape which is not shown in the film and which occurs much before the film starts is the actual inciting incident, since if this didn't happen, she would never have shot the guy who tried to rape Thelma. But again there is another inciting incident, that of Louise shooting the guy who attempts to rape Thelma.

Ruth Rendell, one of my favorite mystery writers, begins her book, A judgment in Stone, by saying this:

Four members of the Coverdale family died in the space of 15 minutes on St Valentine's Day. Eunice Parchman, the housekeeper, shot them down on that Sunday evening while they were watching opera on television, and was arrested two weeks later. But the tragedy neither began nor ended there.

We get to know who the murderer is in the very beginning of the book and the rest of the story is about how the murderer was led to committing the crime. Which means that there is no single specific inciting incident but a series of them spread out throughout the body of the novel.

And the book turned out to be a great read!

So the question is, would it be possible to remove the inciting incident, place it elsewhere etc, and get away with it? Possibly yes, but the risks are enormous and the chances of being able to deliver an exciting, racy screenplay very dim.

I suggest you stick to the three-act structure.

Raghu.

Goodwriterguy · Apr 19, 2009

bretwieseler said:
I'm fairly certain that I understand common plot structure that opens the story with the protagonist in their life "as usual" and then throws them into turmoil, setting them on a journey to resolve the conflict set about at the beginning of the story.

That being said, what if the idea I have has the protagonist already in the midst of a physical journey, where the true journey of the story is more spiritual and psychological? Imagine a character who has just undergone a huge tragedy, who is essentially drifting as a result of not being able to cope. The main body of the story will concern the protagonist's reawakening, with the mystery of how he got to be this way gradually unfolding over the course of the story.

How do you open a story essentially after the inciting incident? Or is it a simple matter or going back to the drawing board.

Are there any good examples that have the protagonists already in transition at the onset of the story? Maybe this is a no-brainer for some writers, but I'm having a tough time laying out the plot without relying on flash-backs and exposition.

As has been noted here already you can place your inciting incident just about anywhere, even before the movie starts if you wish and that works for your story.

But keep in mind it's about conflict, an inciting incident usually sets a conflict in motion, the protag against the bad guy or group of bad guys or a wild beast or a natural disaster or, even, himself, which then makes it character-driven instead of plot-driven.

"where the true journey of the story is more spiritual and psychological?"

seems to indicate an internal dilema/conflict, the tragedy he's endured forces some new assessment of his life's realities and thus introduces the spiritual and psychological nature of the tale and proscribes his character arc.

That's okay of course but character-driven stories are harder to write than plot-driven ones ... because internal conflict is harder to portray than is external conflict. Emotional turmoil is harder to write than is a man with a gun.

"Man with a Golden Arm."

But as long as you understand that it doesn't sppear to me you're facing any insurmountable issues.

Try to avoid flashing back and patently expositry scenes; build your exposition into action scenes organically, a snippet of dialogue here and there can do wonders, or a reference to a news report.

DevelopmentExec · Apr 20, 2009

Raghu said:
Needless to say every script has to follow the format of the hero's journey, or the three-act structure. In essence the screenplay should progress along the following lines.

Exposition / Conflict / Rising Action / Falling action and Denouement.

I don't think it's a good idea to look at the beginning of a story as Exposition. Far too many writers do look at it this way and wind up with flat opening's that are full of info dumps. Exposition should be provided to your audience as necessary, not all at once upfront.

The first ten pages are on some levels the most important. You need to grab attention and hold attention and you need to be progressing the plot. Many execs have an unofficial ten page rule - if they're not enthralled by page ten, the script goes in the rejection pile. When you take a large pile of scripts home for the weekend, you're eager to cut down on the amount of reading you have to do. It doesn't matter how amazing the story is once "it gets going" if the reader doesn't hang in there to that point. Although the inciting incident is the event that puts things in motion, the story should get going on page one.

It's better to look at the beginning of a story as story set-up rather than exposition.

Your first ten pages or so actually has a lot of heavy lifting.

They should establish the world of your story - if it's a surreal world or fantasy world this includes introducing the basic rules of your world (through action, not a character explaining things.)

They should establish the tone of your story and the setting. I should know the genre.

They should establish your protagonist
his goal
his problem

They should establish the major conflict

They should give us a sense of what the story is about - which is not to say you shouldn't surprise us and throw in twists and turns along the way.

And they should do this through action and conflict.

The story set-up is also a good place to set-up things that will be paid off later.

Die Hard does this very well. John's bear feet are set-up in the first few lines of dialogue, Holly's use of her maiden name, the limo waiting in the garage all seemingly innocuous details that are set-up before the inciting incident - all pay off down the line.

Overall the best advice I can give is to Start your story with story.

Cyia · Apr 20, 2009

DevelopmentExec said:
They should establish the world of your story - if it's a surreal world or fantasy world this includes introducing the basic rules of your world (through action, not a character explaining things.)

ITA. I HATE it when the first part of a movie involves a voice over or a sit down with a character to tell the audience what's what. Audiences are smarter than that. They can pick up on the clues you give them to work with.

(I went and saw Push at the theater, and one of its many faults was that at the opening credits, Dakota Fanning's voice came on and "explained" the rules and terminology of the world. Bleh.)

killbox · Apr 20, 2009

You just have to be careful with this type of script (which I believe is used quite often) because if not well executed, a person re-playing back their life after the inciting incident sometimes leads to what appears to be a non-active protagonist.

When it works, it works well. But when it doesn't... I have seen some dreadful scripts. Heck, I have written some.

Goodwriterguy · Apr 21, 2009

killbox said:
You just have to be careful with this type of script (which I believe is used quite often) because if not well executed, a person re-playing back their life after the inciting incident sometimes leads to what appears to be a non-active protagonist.

When it works, it works well. But when it doesn't... I have seen some dreadful scripts. Heck, I have written some.

Oh yeah, I expect we've all written our share of them.

It is a commom structure and movies do begin with story but we talk about inciting incident and story catalyst because that is indeed what's going on; it should never be two characters sittin' round doing a "Now back in sixty-three ..." reminiscence but launch right into the now time action of it without much by way of explaining what's going on or who's on first. It will all become clear in time, in fact we have clean to the end of the movie to make it all clear.

A movie's opening is an invitation, often beginning with that time worn yet ever practical refrain, "Once upon a time ..."

How to open a story...

bretwieseler

Aspiring Human Being

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

ricetalks

shokadh

Now serving Table for 300

nmstevens

What happened?

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

Raghu

Slumdog Screenwriter

Goodwriterguy

DevelopmentExec

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

killbox

More often than not...

Goodwriterguy