by Will Dunne
20. Ugliness. Give one example of something or someone that most characters here would agree is ugly.
21. Advantages. Every world has certain resources that people can tap when they need help-for example, friends, institutions, tools, nature, rules of conduct, social clubs, religious organizations, rich uncles, police officers, nest eggs, family heirlooms, hidden treasures. What are three resources available to most characters in the world of your story? These are positive elements-people, places, or things-that are specific to this world and are potentially helpful.
22. Obstacles. Every world also has certain disadvantages that can make life difficult, and limitations that can get in the way. What are three obstacles that affect most of the characters in the world of your story directly or indirectly? These are negative elements-people, places, or things-that are specific to this world and can potentially block characters from getting what they want.
WRAP-UP
You need to know the world of the story as thoroughly as you know each of the characters whom we will meet here. It is essential to understand what this world is, how it operates, what makes it unique, what it values, and what is expected of those who populate it. Once this groundwork has been established, make sure that the story unfolds in a way that is logical and appropriate to the world you have defined.
THE QUICK VERSION
Identify and analyze the event that triggers the main character's dramatic journey
BEST TIME FOR THIS
During early story development
THE EVENT THAT STARTS THE STORY ENGINE
The inciting event is a key element of your story. It is what causes the story to happen. The inciting event does this by changing the dynamics of the main character's world. For example, something is added: guests arrive in the middle of the night (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). Or something is altered: you move your family to a new country (In America). Or something is taken away: your son disappears (Missing).
Whether positive or negative, large or small, this change in dynamics may be caused by the main character or by someone or something else. It may be the result of intention, accident, coincidence, luck, or the forces of nature. It may take the form of a decision, discovery, opportunity, loss, external development, or other event.
For example, your father's ghost appears and tells you he has been murdered by your new stepfather (Hamlet). Or you learn that you have a terminal illness (Wit). Or you, your house, and your dog are suddenly whisked away by a tornado and left in a strange land far from home (The Wizard of Oz). Even if the inciting event is only a quiet spark, such as the glance of an attractive stranger across the way (Romeo and Juliet), it is a powerful force that sets the character moving in a new direction.
Among the turning points of the story, the inciting event is unique in that it triggers the goal that drives the main character's dramatic journey. This goal reflects a desire to do something about the change that has occurredfor example, to avenge the murder of your father (Hamlet), to understand what matters most in life (Wit), to find a way home (The Wizard of Oz), or to unite with your love (Romeo and Juliet).
The inciting event works best when it occurs during the story-not the backstory. It is often the first important thing that happens. Sometimes this turning point is delayed so that we can develop a better understanding of the life that will be changed. However, the event is not usually delayed for long, because until it happens the engine of the story has not really started.
For the inciting event to function dramatically, two things must occur. First, the main character has to know it happened. If he or she is not present when the event takes place, therefore, the character must learn about it as soon as possible. Second, the character must be incited into action. If the inciting event is a problem, the character may want to solve it or avoid it. If it's an opportunity, the character may want to take advantage of it. If it's a mystery, the character may want to uncover its meaning.
In screenplays more often than plays, the inciting event may be delayed so that subplots can be introduced. In films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Fargo, for example, the inciting event may not occur until the end of the first act or even the beginning of the second act.
Regardless of how it changes the dynamics of the world, the event triggers in the main character a desire that cannot be dismissed or delayed. This is the kind of desire that burns: one so important and so urgent that the character will do everything possible to satisfy it and, even in the face of the worst conflict, will not consider compromise or surrender along the way. When the character finally achieves the goal or when it becomes clear that the character can never accomplish the goal, the dramatic journeyand the story-are over.
Sometimes the goal that drives the story is conscious-the character knows what must be done or at least believes so-and does not change. For example, you set out to find a valuable treasure that has been hidden (Raiders of the Lost Ark). In more complex stories, the inciting event may trigger a subconscious goal as well. This hidden desire is often contrary or even contradictory to the conscious one. For example, you may be consciously striving for political success but subconsciously trying to defeat yourself and create personal failure (Macbeth). In such cases, it is the subconscious goal that drives the story and doesn't change.
Drama is the art of showdown, and the inciting event is the first indicator of what this showdown will be. For example, we have a sense that in the end there will be a face-off between you and your father's killer (Hamlet), between you and the forces of death (Wit), or between you and the strange world around you (The Wizard of Oz). This foreshadowing raises a big question that begins to engage us and does not get answered until the story ends.
ABOUT THE EXERCISE
Use this exercise to find and flesh out the event that triggers your main character's dramatic journey. Look for new possibilities as you explore this key event and how it can influence the rest of your story.
THE INCITING EVENT OF YOUR STORY
Think about the unique world of your story, who populates it, and what goes on there. The dynamics of this world could be changed by many different types of events-large and small, positive and negative. Consider the possibilities that could affect your main character and launch a dramatic journey.
i. What if the dynamics of your character's world were changed by a discovery that he or she makes-for example, someone who owes him money refuses to pay the debt (The Bear). Briefly identify a discovery.
2. What if the dynamics of your character's world were changed by a conscious decision that the character makes-for example, to walk out of an abusive marriage (Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More). Briefly identify a personal decision that makes sense for your character.
3. What if it were a conscious decision of someone close to your character-for example, the man she loves asks her to marry him (Rebecca). Briefly identify a personal decision or action of someone close.
4. What if it were a decision of someone whom your character knows from work or from the community-for example, a neighbor burns down his cotton gin (Baby Doll). Briefly identify the decision or action and who initiates it.
5. What if it were the action of an organization with strong but impersonal ties to your character-for example, the police arrest him (The Wrong Man). Identify the decision or action and the organization that initiates it.
6. What if it were an external event caused by an individual or small group with no prior connection to your character-for example, escaped convicts invade his home (The Desperate Hours). Briefly identify the event and who initiates it.
7. What if it were an external event caused by a large group or organization with no prior connection to your character-for example, Nazi forces blow up the radio studio where he works (The Pianist). Briefly identify the external event.
8. What if it were an accident or coincidence-for example, a car crash leaves her paralyzed and widowed (Resurrection). Briefly identify what happens.
9.
What if it were an act of God or force of nature-for example, your character's wife dies and leaves him alone (About Schmidt). Briefly identify what happens.
io. What if it were something completely different? As a final brainstorm, look back through the possibilities you've imagined for an inciting event and, in any one category, add an opposite possibility. For example, if you came up with a discovery that is negative-your character finds out that someone who owes him money can't pay the debt (The Bear)-con- sider one now that is positive-he finds out that he has inherited a castle (Frankenstein).
A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW THE DRAMATIC JOURNEY BEGINS
As you complete the next steps, continue to think about the unique world of your story, who populates it, and what goes on there:
I. Choose one inciting event to explore further. Develop a few more details about what happens, where and when it happens, and who's there.
2. How close to the beginning of the story does the inciting event occur? If it happens in the backstory, how could you move it forward into the story itself? If it occurs late in the story, do you have a compelling reason for delaying the inciting event? If not, how could you move it closer to the opening?
3. When does your main character learn about the inciting event? If the character is not present when it happens, how might you condense the time between the event and your character's awareness of it?
4. What is the immediate emotional impact of the inciting event on your character?
5. The inciting event launches the dramatic journey. What conscious goal does this event trigger in your main character?
6. In some stories, the inciting event sparks not only a conscious goal, but also a more powerful subconscious need. If this is true for your character, what is the subconscious need and how does it compare to the conscious goal?
7. Think again about your character's goal. Is it truly a new desire that the character did not have prior to the inciting event? If this desire is not new, how can you change the story or backstory so that it is?
8. What is at stake for your character as a result of the inciting event? How might you make the stakes higher? How might you make the situation more urgent?
9. In the short term, does the inciting event move the character's life in a positive or negative direction?
io. In the long term, does the inciting event move the character's life in a positive or negative direction? How does this compare to the short-term impact?
i I. Identify two or three of the biggest obstacles that your character will have to overcome in order to achieve the new goal that has been incited.
12. What is the showdown that this inciting event foreshadows? Identify at least two forces that are introduced now and will collide later.
WRAP-UP
Whether the inciting event is caused by the main character or results from forces beyond his or her control, it changes the dynamics of the character's life in an important and irreversible way. Be sure you know what this event is, how it affects your character consciously and subconsciously, and what story goal it triggers. Many dramaturgical problems can be traced back to an inciting event that did not arouse a strong enough or clear enough goal in the main character.
THE QUICK VERSION
Analyze the opening of your story
BEST TIME FOR THIS
After you have completed at least ten pages of your script
DRAWING THE AUDIENCE INTO YOUR STORY
One of Billy Wilder's tips to dramatic writers is to "grab 'em by the throat and never let go." This "grabbing" needs to occur as soon as possible and preferably within the first ten minutes-that's usually ten pages-of your script.
Most audiences will watch just about anything for ten minutes. After all, they have come to the theater to have a worthwhile experience; they have invested time and money in this endeavor; and they are usually eager to prove to themselves and each other that they made the right decision. They want your story to succeed.
However, all of this can change rapidly after ten minutes. The audience can move from rapt interest to distraction, confusion, boredom, impatience, irritation, and sometimes even hostility. If you lose the audience, it is extremely difficult to win them back. It is essential to use your first ten minutes wisely. If you win the audience over during this critical time-if you have truly grabbed them-they are more likely to participate in the journey and forgive any problem spots along the way.
The story's opening needs to accomplish certain things, therefore, if the rest of the story is to succeed. During the first ten minutes, you need to establish what the story is about and who it's about. The audience typically wants some understanding of this as soon as possible so that they knowat a gut level-where to put their focus.
For example, they want to know that this will be Tony and Maria's journey to love, or Homebody's journey to truth, or Mary Tyrone's journey to refuge. The audience doesn't want the ending spelled out, but they do want a general sense of destination: where they will be heading in the story and who will be leading them there. In other words, they want a "ticket" at the beginning that identifies the journey ahead.
Such knowledge allows them to settle into the world of the story, pay most attention to what's most important, get emotionally invested in a main character, and begin to follow a throughline. Until this knowledge is acquired, the audience is working hard to get a handle on things. If they have to work too hard for too long, they may begin to feel it's not worth the effort.
A key goal is to make the audience care about what's going on. You have to somehow capture their attention and hopefully their hearts-you have to grab them-during the first ten minutes so that they will begin to focus not only on what's happening right now, but also on what could happen later. From a technical point of view, the function of story is to make the audience worry. They are most likely to do so if they like or at least empathize with the character in front of them.
By the time they are ten minutes into the story, the audience is consciously or subconsciously asking questions they want answered. Good stories tend to center around one big question that is raised early on and not answered until the end, and then lots of little questions that get raised and answered along the way. Questions keep the audience in two places at once: the present of the story (what's happening now) and the future (what might happen later). When the audience is in two places at once, they are leaning forward in their seats and fully engaged.
During the first ten minutes, you also need to show what the rules of the game are, especially if you are presenting a world which is in any way different from the everyday world outside the theater. Chekhov's advice is to establish these rules within the first few pages. If this is a world where ghosts will appear, for example, something ghostly or at least eerie should happen near the top of the story. The audience also wants a sense of genre as soon as possible. If it's a comedy, they want to know up front that they have permission to laugh. If it's a thriller, they want early warning signs of scary stuff ahead.
ABOUT THE EXERCISE
The following ten questions can help you strengthen the grabbing power of your story and are based on the idea that suspense comes from knowledge: in order to be grabbed, the audience needs to know what's going on. Exercise examples are from David Mamet's play Edmond.
THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF YOUR SCRIPT
Read over the first ten pages of your script and answer these questions:
i. Whose story is it, and how well have you established this? When the story begins, we, the audience, are like strangers at a party who don't know anybody. We're all alone and want to latch on to someone as soon as possible so that we can start meeting the others through this new acquaintance.
You need to determine how quickly and how clearly you will let us know whose story it is. The sooner you do this, the better. We want to know where to put our focus, whom to invest ourselves in, and whose journey we will be following.
In Edmond, for example, the main character is Edmond.
We know this from the title even before the story begins. If the play had a different title, we would still know it is Edmond's journey after the first few moments of scene I, when he is having his fortune told: the focus is entirely on him and his future. If we had any doubts about this, we would know for sure moments later when scene 2 begins and it is not the fortune-teller but Edmond we see next at home.
2. In one sentence, what happens during the first ten minutes? During this time, the audience will be entering the world you have created, meeting your characters, and experiencing the first story events. They also will be consciously and subconsciously deciding whether or not to get involved in this dramatic journey. What happens during this time is critical. Hopefully, it introduces an interesting character in an interesting situation with strong emotional qualities.
By compressing your opening into one sentence, you may get a clearer vision of what's there and whether or not you need to heighten its impact. You may discover that you need to make more happen. Or you may discover that you need to make less happen. Either way, aim for character and story choices that will make the audience eager for more.
In one sentence, for example, here's what happens in Edmond during the first ten minutes, which includes three short scenes: a grim fortune spurs Edmond to walk out of a miserable marriage of many years and enter a threatening world of violence, racism, and back-room sex. The mysterious power of the fortune-telling, the emerging desire to change a life, and the radical shift in environment promise lots of dramatic and interesting, though certainly not easy, things ahead.
3. What is the strongest image in the first ten minutes? Theater is a highly visual experience. The living pictures that we see on stage or on screen often reveal more about the characters than their words do. Think about the visual images that come and go as your characters interact with each other and with their physical environment and the objects in it. Ideally, you have written a script that demands interesting and compelling images because of what's happening and what's being said. Look at the images you have built into the first ten minutes and see if they are strong enough to add grabbing power to your story.