How to hook a reader from the very start of your novel
What an inciting incident is, why it matters and how to create one that gets your writing noticed
‘Lucrezia is taking her seat at the long dining table, which is polished to a watery gleam and spread with dishes, inverted cups, a woven circlet of fir.’
This is how The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell begins. It’s a beautiful and unusual description — the watery gleam of the table — with unusual details — the inverted cups — and ones that could be an indicator of tradition and season — the woven circlet of fir. The chapter heading too, ‘A wild and lonely place’, is at once evocative and startling.
But, I thought, after reading this one sentence, it’s such a strange tense! Present progressive or present continuous to grammar aficionados. It’s a present tense with on-going action. But why make this simple action of sitting continuous? And in the opening sentence of the book too?
I read on.
‘Her husband is sitting down, not in his customary place at the opposite end, but next to her, close enough that she could rest her head on his shoulder, should she wish; he is unfolding his napkin and straightening a knife and moving the candle towards them both when it comes to her with a peculiar clarity, as if some coloured glass has been put in front of her eyes, or perhaps removed from them, that he intends to kill her.’
Aaaah! How utterly wonderful. Such a breathtakingly lovely and horrifying start to a book. O’Farrell captures in that singular moment, of two people taking their seats at a dining table, in the minutia of a fidgeting motion with a knife, the husband’s nerves; the thought that Lucrezia may well not want to lay her head on her beloved’s shoulder; in the pushing away of tradition — sitting next to her instead of opposite — that she, Lucrezia is about to be murdered.
‘She is sixteen years old, not quite a year into her marriage…’
And now I’m hooked. An extremely young protagonist who has been married as a child and whose husband is now going to kill her. Why? How? And most importantly, what will Lucrezia do?
This is a perfect example of an inciting incident. And it’s the first two sentences of the novel!
We’re going to look at what an inciting incident is, why it’s important, take a look at inciting incidents in three successful novels in very different genres and then I have a writing exercise for you. 🌿
What is an inciting incident?
An inciting incident is the event that disrupts your protagonist’s ordinary world and sets the story in motion. Something has to happen in your story and near the start of your story (it’s not always so beautifully done and in the first two sentences too). The event that happens needs to create a problem, opportunity, or question that compels the character to act. Lucrezia needs to act or she won’t survive this night. In choosing life, will she also find out why her husband wants to kill her?
Most importantly, without an inciting incident, there’s no story—just characters drifting through their lives. Of course, you could have an inciting incident at the start of your story and your protagonist decides to do nothing. If Lucrezia accepts her fate without the merest hint of a fight, it won’t be a very good book, but arguably there might be other stories where the hero chooses not to act and it works. Still, in choosing non-action, a path is still chosen. It is still a decision, on the part of the author, on the part of the character.
So why are inciting incidents important?
Well, they give the story urgency and direction. They provide readers with the first taste of conflict and raise the ‘story question’: what will happen next? They connect the external plot (what happens) with the internal arc (what changes in the character). And above all, they anchor the reader emotionally by showing what’s at stake.
In The Marriage Portrait the inciting incident is that Lucrezia believes that her husband intends to kill her. This moment of revelation isn’t just shocking—it also forces us to look back at her life, setting up the central question: will she live? It works because it’s immediate, dramatic, and deeply personal—her very survival is at stake.
And we do go hurtling back to the past in the next chapter. Lucrezia is seven years old.
The inciting incident at the start of the following chapter is that her father, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, orders a tiger to be delivered to the Palazzo and when it arrives, Lucrezia contrives to visit the tiger in her underground cage. This inciting incident is dramatic in itself — a tiger shipped to Italy in 1552 on the whim of a rich ruler — but not as full of drama as the opening of the novel.
What it does do is begin the story of Lucrezia as a child, leading up to her potentially lethal marriage. It shows us what kind of person she is, how other people in the novel perceive her, the environment she lives in — both external (the palazzo) and social (staff, family and friends). The tiger’s arrival forces her to make a decision, but it also acts as a leit motif throughout the novel, a thread that connects the child-Lucrezia to the woman who must act like an adult when faced with one of the most powerful men in Europe who, she assumes, is going to slit her throat that night.
Here are some more examples of exemplary inciting incidents that also occur swiftly, at or near the start of the story.
A classic – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Inciting incident: The arrival of Mr Bingley at Netherfield Park.
Why it works: Mr Bingley’s arrival disrupts the Bennet family’s quiet country life, introducing the possibility of advantageous marriages (and, for Elizabeth, the fraught relationship with Mr Darcy). It triggers the entire chain of romantic and social complications.
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,’ is one of the novel’s most famous lines.
But the real inciting incident is the first sentence when Mrs Bennet declares:
‘”My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”’
It is this single announcement that will change the Bennet sisters’ lives.
Crime/thriller – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Inciting incident: Blomkvist is summoned by Henrik Vanger, who offers him a bargain: investigate the decades-old disappearance of Harriet, and in return receive the ammunition to restore his ruined career.
Why it works: It’s a compelling mystery tied to wealth, power, and family secrets—and it drags him into Lisbeth Salander’s world.
Mikael Blomkvist accepts Henrik Vanger’s commission to investigate Harriet’s disappearance. This is the external hook. But Henrik also hires a security firm to vet Mikael—and that’s where Lisbeth comes in. She hacks Mikael’s background and essentially ‘discovers’ him before he knows her.
Once Mikael starts digging into the case, he needs a researcher with unusual skills, and Lisbeth is drawn into his orbit. Without the inciting incident—the Harriet commission—these two characters’ paths wouldn’t have crossed. It’s the gateway that brings their very different worlds (journalism and hacking) into collision.
Contemporary bestseller / coming of age – Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Inciting incident: Sam sees Sadie in a train station after years apart and calls out to her.
Why it works: That chance encounter reignites their creative partnership and sets the stage for decades of collaboration, friendship and conflict. There is a strong emotional hook: will they manage to create something extraordinary together, and at what cost?
‘He was nearly to the subway’s escalator when he turned back…That was when he spied his old comrade, Sadie Green…Sam called her name, “SADIE!”’
And that’s on page 2. Page 2 folks!
Writing exercise
Think of your protagonist’s life before the story begins. Write a short scene that shows their ordinary world. Then introduce the inciting incident—an event that disrupts that world and forces them to act. Ask yourself:
What changes because of this event?
What choice does the character face now that they didn’t before?
How does this connect to the heart of the story you want to tell?
Optional twist: Write two different versions of the inciting incident—one external (a dramatic event), one internal (a moment of realisation or decision)—and see which creates more narrative energy.
Let me know how you get on!
Sanjida x
PS Reminder that we have our next Wild Writing Session tomorrow, Tuesday 21 October 7-9pm GMT, where we get together and work on our own writing.
PPS Don’t forget, we have 2 really exciting materclasses coming up soon:
How to Write Historical Fiction with
Emma’s new book, The Bruegel Boy, is historical and also literary. It has a complex structure, set across two time lines. There’s an inciting incident right at the start of both time lines — as one would expect from a master story-teller. I’ll let you work out what they are!
7-8.30 pm GMT Wednesday 26 November
You can book on Luma: https://luma.com/0m0ddh4y
And I have a special discount for all subscribers of Wild Writing with Sanjida: 20% off.
Please quote this code at the checkout: OAI9ES
Masterclass on How to Write Short Stories with , Brontë Schiltz & Joe Melia
7.30-9 pm GMT Tuesday 9 December
Details and how to book here: https://luma.com/czorgssu
Subscribers can use this code for 20% off at the checkout: AO3O98
So much clearer than anything I’ve read on inciting incidents before (probably because of the deconstructed examples). Thank you!
Wow! Such a helpful essay, thank you. Love the examples given. This has given me much to think over for my WIP!