Building Characters - Inciting Incident

Jeff Gerke's book Plot vs. Character teaches how to build a believable character. Today I'll outline Step Two in the character's inner journey, the Inciting Incident.

Your character has a knot, a problem, a fear. She has a way of compensating so that her pain is numbed and she can live a normal life. Things are okay, and there's no need to change a thing. But not for long. Introduce the Inciting Incident and your character can no longer ignore the problem.

Scrooge is visited by three ghosts. Dorothy's home is carted away by a tornado. Dwarves show up on Bilbo's stoop and carry him into an adventure. 

The lead character is forced to go in a direction she doesn't want to go and there's no turning back. At the same time, she can't afford to NOT go on this journey. The pain/fear/knot she's been living with is no longer comfy, and despite her belief that this detour is a minor nuisance that will soon be over, it's not. 

Jeff says for the reader to care about this inciting incident, she first has to care about the character. So spend some time in the character's life before this incident intrudes, and the reader will care more deeply when the dookey hits the fan. Dorothy protected her dog from the wicked neighbor lady before the twister hit. Bilbo loved the shire and couldn't think of a single reason to ever leave before the dwarves showed up. Scrooge wasn't sympathetic at all, but we got to see what kind of man he was before the ghosts showed up to teach him the error of his ways and offer redemption.

An inciting incident can be almost anything. It's an interruption. Maybe it's huge. Maybe it's tiny. The important thing is that it diverts the character toward his Moment of Truth. Frodo would have never travelled to Mt. Doom if the ring hadn't come to him. Luke Skywalker wouldn't have launched the proton torpedo if the droids hadn't entered his life. Moses wouldn't have led the Children of Israel out of Egypt if he hadn't been sidetracked by the burning bush. 

Grab your hero, pull her off her intended path, and push her toward her destiny.

Jeff suggests working from the end. I happen to know it works, as that's the way I do it. Think of your character's Moment of Truth. What has to happen to get her to that moment? Then back up. What has to happen to get her to the brink of that decision? Back up some more. What has to happen to get her almost to that brink? What would have to happen before that? Keep backing up until you get to her initial condition. Jeff offers a detailed example from the story My Fair Lady, if you need more.

Moving on, Jeff says the inciting incident can be nearly anything, but it should have these qualities:

1) It should be unexpected. A surprise, an ambush, a blind-side. Moses saw a burning bush. Lucy found a magical portal(The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe). Scrooge saw the ghost of his dead colleague.

2) It should have something to do with the hero's knot, even if it's not clear to the reader the moment it's introduced. Luke's parents were killed by stormtroopers, eliminating his convenient excuses for not joining the rebellion.

3) It should represent a massive change for the hero, not just a minor interruption. Scrooge couldn't avoid his ghosts. 

4) It requires action from the hero because it affects him directly and demands that he respond. In The Lion King, Mufasa demands the Simba grow up and face the responsibilities of kingship. Simba is the heir - he cannot escape that destiny.

5) It works with everything else you want to do in the story. The entire story revolves around it, so make it relevant. Don't begin a fluffy chick-lit piece with the hero discovering she has late-stage cancer or has been abducted by aliens. 

In the next post I'll delve into the mysteries of The Escalation.

-Sonja

Building Characters - Initial Condition

I had to take a mental health break last week, and for those of you keeping track, I didn't post anything. Now I'm back and eager to continue the topic of building believable characters. I'm stealing all this material from Jeff Gerke's book Plot vs. Character. In the interest of fairness to Jeff, I'm not giving away ALL his secrets, so if you want it all, buy the book. It's worth it. I'm currently dishing out info from chapter 8, which goes into more detail on Step One of the character's inner journey. It's called the Initial Condition. I covered The Knot several posts ago, which is part of the Initial Condition. Today I'll dig deeper.

When your novel opens, your protagonist has an undiagnosed ailment. Maybe he's in pain. Maybe he doesn't know he has a problem. But it's there, and if he's aware of it, he thinks it's no big deal. This problem is The Knot. The rest of the story is a vehicle to transport your character from his Knot to his Moment of Truth, when he has to make a choice: fix the problem, or live with it. This is all review, by the way. 

The Initial Condition is the place your protagonist is in at the beginning of the story. You'll show the reader what the character's knot is and how it's messing with her life. By now you know how this fear/knot arose in her life and how she compensates to numb the pain. Now use her temperament and all the other layers you've added to extrapolate: how would this character with this background try to avoid experiencing the pain of her knot?

Jeff gives several examples to cement all this in place, if you're interested in reading more.

Basically, you want your character's knot to hinder her but not paralyze her. She's making it through life fairly well. She's frustrated by some things, but for the most part, she's functional and knows that, if she can just get X to happen, her frustrations will end. She's likable and sympathetic.

I'll use my character Cassandra for an example. Cassie is afraid of strangers and strange places. That's her knot. She has a comfort zone in her home town of about nine square blocks. She never leaves that area. She avoids talking to strangers if she can, but she is capable of speaking to strangers when the need arises. She just doesn't like to. She runs a bakery with her best friend, Talia. Cassie bakes the bread, Talia sells it to the public. Almost all of this information comes out in the first few chapters of the book so the reader knows all about Cassie's fears (and her own awareness of them), her attempts to act more "normal," and how this fear hinders her from living a fully engaged life.

Once you've set up this Initial Condition, it's time to shake up your protagonist and introduce the Inciting Incident. That's the topic of the next post.

-Sonja

Building Characters - The Moment of Truth, Part Three

I'm feeling a little repetitive, but it's necessary: I'm still discussing building believable characters using Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character. In the last two posts, I discussed the Moment of Truth, which is Step Four in the protagonist's Inner Journey. This should finish that up and I can move on.

You've got your character's Knot all figured out. You've chosen the alternative, the land of promise she could get if only she'd let go of that pesky knot. Now you're ready to figure out the Moment of Truth. Here are Jeff's tips:

1. Make it fit. The Moment of Truth must be the collision of the two opposite choices in the hero's life: the old way and the new way. Don't spring a third way at the last second--she's got to decide between #1 and #2. 

2. Make sure both options are compelling. Your hero is stuck in the old way, which hurts herself and those around her, yet it gives her something she values. The new way has to be as attractive as the old way, even if she doesn't see it at first. It must give her everything the old way can't provide, and it must solve her problems--but not without cost.

3. Include the cost of purchase. The hero has to understand not only what she gains by choosing one option over the other, but also what she stands to lose. 

4. Provide smaller moments of truth along the way. Think of ways for these two opposing options to skirmish before the final showdown, and show the hero making minor yes/no choices between these two options.

Jeff's got a fill-in-the-blank form in the book for use in plotting moment's of truth. Buy the book if you want to see it because it's just too long for me to copy it here, and frankly, that wouldn't be fair to Jeff. Check it out, because it's worth it. You can figure all this stuff out on your own (without the form), so it's not completely necessary. It just makes things easier.

Now that you've got all this settled, it's time to bring it all together. Answer this question: why now? Why does the hero have to make this choice right now? What forces her to choose without further delay? You, as author, force it to happen--back your hero into a corner and watch her squirm. You'll find the "why now" component in the nature of the two choices. If the knot is an over-dependence on technology and the alternative is a reliance on something spiritual, your moment of truth will have to be something that forces the hero to choose between those two options. Act now or forever regret it.

"Often the moment of truth will come when the hero's last resistance has been knocked away," Jeff says. The hero is at rock bottom, and it's cost her too much to remain in her old ways. Her eyes are open and she's able to make a wise choice (or a foolish one, if your ending is tragic).  "Characters don't change until it hurts too much to stay the same," Jeff continues. So bring on the pain. Wear your hero down until she can compare both options and evaluate them as equal choices. Think of Frodo on the ledge overlooking the lava flow, if that helps.

In the next post (or four) I'll look at Step One of the Inner Journey, the Initial Condition. It contains the Knot, which I've already discussed, plus some other tasty stuff. 

-Sonja

Building Characters - The Moment of Truth, Part Two

Here we are, once again, working on building believable characters using Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character. In the last post, I started discussing the Moment of Truth, which is Step Four in the protagonist's Inner Journey. Look back if you need a refresher.

Jeff gives a bunch of examples from other works to help identify the Moment of Truth. I'll offer a few of them here for your edification. If you want to see them all, purchase the book. It's worth the price. 

1. Romeo stands in the tomb beside Juliet's supposedly dead body. Now that she's gone, what will he do?

2. Darth Vader, in Return of the Jedi, watches the Emperor killing Luke Skywalker with fancy finger lightning. Will Vader give his ultimate allegiance to the Emperor, or will he betray his master to save his son?

3. Elizabeth's moment of truth in Pride and Prejudice comes when she realizes that Mr. Darcy, whom she's snubbed, has saved her family from great shame and is an honorable man. He asks her to marry him. Will she?

These heroes fully understand what will probably happen if they step through Door #1 or choose Door #2. The choices are clearly laid out. The risks and consequences are understood. They must choose. 

Frodo's knot is to use the power of the ring to serve his own interests. The cost would be the destruction of all he holds dear and the loss of his soul. The alternative, the "right" thing, is to deny himself the temptation of the ring and destroy it.  In every step he would be torn in opposing directions. To have the means of your salvation (and the salvation of everyone else in the world) as near as your pocket, yet refusing to use it for the greater good, that's so mighty strong tension. 

Two desires pull at Frodo. The Black Riders use their psychic voodoo to urge Frodo to use the ring, because doing so will reveal his location to them. The ring wants to be found and taken back to its master, so it's pulling at Frodo to put it on. Frodo feels the need to use the ring when he must be invisible to get free of danger (or free his friends from danger). That's the pull to use the ring, and the temptation is overpowering. On the opposite side, all Frodo's friends urge him NOT to use the ring, for his soul's sake and everyone else's life. It's a powerful internal conflict and it propel's Frodo's inner journey all the way to the end of the story.

Your goal, as a writer, is to bring these two choices, these two options, together in one moment of choosing. 

This is getting long, so I'll save the rest for next time. Hope you'll come back for more.

-Sonja

Building Characters - The Moment of Truth

I'm still working on the series regarding building believable characters, using Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character. If you're getting bored, now would be  good time to visit my blog archives and dig into something different, because this is going to take a while. I'm in the midst of explaining the protagonist's Inner Arc, or Journey, or what Jeff calls the Inner Journey. Step one was The Knot, or What's Wrong With The Lead Character. Step Four is The Moment of Truth. For you math whizzes, you'll notice that I've skipped Steps Two and Three. That's the way Jeff does it in his book, so that's the way I'm doing it here.

Jeff's advise (and mine too, as I do it this way) is to start at the end of the story. If you know where you're going, it's much easier to plot the trip along the way. You plan a road trip that way, so why not a novel? Your entire story is a vehicle to transport the reader from page one to the moment of truth. In Lord of the Rings, Frodo's moment of truth was when he stood on the edge of Mount Doom and saw the lava below. He had a decision to make. That *moment* when he deliberated was what the entire story pointed to. You don't have to know what your character will decide--that can come later. But you have to know what that moment will look like.

Your character has a Knot, something making problems. She's on Path A. Then a new path pops up: Path B. It looks tempting. But the old way is more comfortable. Which will she choose? Whichever path she chooses, she'll learn more about herself and what's at stake. Then Path C shows up. Then another Path. At each of these junctures, she begins to see just how poisonous her current way is. She understands both the promise and the price. She comes to truly understand her choice. 

Frodo could keep the ring, or he could toss it into the lava. Along the way, he had opportunities to use the ring or keep it in his pocket. Every time he used the ring, he regrets that he's done so and has to pay the price. So when he stands on the edge of the lava flow, he has to make this final decision. 

It is at that moment, when your character's last reason for staying the same has been knocked away and she must choose once and for all... that's what you're aiming for. That's the reason you're writing the story. That's the moment of truth. 

I'll continue this topic in the next post. Same bat time, same bat channel.

-Sonja

Building Characters -The Knot

I'm continuing the series on building believable characters, using Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character. Today I'll finish the topic of The Knot, or What's Wrong With the Protagonist. 

You've established your protagonist's inner flaw. You've discovered how it developed. You've made it deep enough and large enough to sustain an entire novel. Now what? Jeff says it's time to find the opposite of the knot, so you'll be ready for the Moment of Truth at the end of the book.

I'll use an example from the last post. Alexandra Rover is the protagonist in Wendy Orr's novel, Nim's Island. Alex's knot is her agoraphobia. She's afraid to leave her apartment. She's afraid to try new things. She's afraid of germs. What's the opposite of all these fears? Indiana Jones. Yep. Alex writes Indiana Jones-style adventure books from the comfort of her own home. These two opposites collide when Alex has to leave her house and travel to an island in the South Pacific to help a young girl in trouble. The story just wouldn't have been as moving if Alex had to conquer her fear of strangers by simply stepping out the door of her home. She had to be shoved out by something far greater than herself or her fears: a young life in jeopardy.

Getting to the happy ending shouldn't be easy. Walking away from additions and negative strongholds and bone-deep fears isn't a walk in the park. Your protagonist is comfortable in her dysfunctional world, so you've got to come up with something to shove her out. Find a great knot for your protagonist, then find an equally powerful destination to offer in exchange. The bulk of your novel then showcases this battle between the two options, all leading up to that moment when she decides if she's going to give up her flaw and go for the prize, or remain in her familiar discomfort.

In my next post, I'll talk about the Moment of Truth. For those of you paying attention, that's phase number 4. I realize that I've skipped phases 2 and 3 - Jeff does it that way in his book, so I'll do it that way, too.

-Sonja 

Building Characters - The Knot

I'm continuing the series on building believable characters, using Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character. Today's topic is The Knot, or What's Wrong With the Protagonist.

Your protagonist has a problem. Adultery. Selfishness. Hubris. Narcissism. Ambition. Unwise Trusting. Drug addition. Discontentment. Jealousy. Weakness for chocolate. It's a problem that anyone could have, but your protagonist struggles with it greatly. And just like the knot in a rope, the knot in her personality can result in irritation, delay, or even disaster. She's living her life, everything's going great, and suddenly there's this knot in the works. She notices it and tries to work on it. Or she notices it and ignores it. Or maybe she doesn't even know it's there and the problems it causes take her by surprise. 

Choosing a problem for your protagonist can be tricky, so you'll need to brainstorm. Maybe she's afraid of commitment. Or addicted to gambling. Or an out-of-control spender. Maybe she's afraid of strangers. Maybe her husband beats her. Maybe she cheats on her taxes, or is obsessed with a movie star, or stalks the neighbor. The only guideline Gerke gives here is "go deep." Think of Alex Rover from Wendy Orr's Nim's Island: Alex is an author, writing about an adventure hero, but she's afraid of the mailman, spiders, and just about everything else under the sun. That exaggerated fear makes the story worth reading, because she finds herself in the position of having to leave her house - something she never does.

It's not enough to come up with the problem. You've got to now how it got there. WHY is your protagonist terrified of spiders? WHY is she obsessed with ducks? WHY does she purchase every purple purse she sees?

You need to find something that can carry the weight of the entire novel. If your character's knot is that his shirt is untucked and everyone is laughing at him, that's not enough of a problem for the entire novel. At the same time, the knot doesn't have to be earth shattering. The fate of the universe doesn't have to rest in your character's lap. The knot just has to be significant to the protagonist.

Fear is always a great knot. Other great knots are extreme hurt, a lack of forgiveness of someone else, a lack of forgiveness for self (guilt), losing a child to death or abduction, unresolved anguish, shame, regret, or a horrible secret. Do you want ot explore the loyalty between siblings? Create a character who feels she's never been loved by her family. Want to investigate courage and change a coward into a hero? Create a cowardly protagonist.

Jeff lists some sample knots from novels, movies, and real life. I'm going to copy most of the list for you here. If you want to see the entire list, buy the book.

- The belief that life has dealt him an unfair hand

- A fear of being alone (caused by abandonment as a child)

- An overpowering desire to exact revenge

- A fear of commitment (caused by parent's divorce)

- A loner mentality (caused by being hurt by someone she relied upon)

You get the idea. You want to wound your character in some way that causes her life to be less than it should be. There's a bit more to discuss on this topic, but I'm running out of room. I'll continue in the next post.

-Sonja