Inciting Incident Techniques

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > STRUCTURE > SHAPE > DIAGRAM > INCITING > TECHNIQUES >

'I get frustrated and I leave the theater, but I come back because I know there's an audience to whom I have an obligation. There are people who desperately want to hear something that clarifies reality for them, that lights them, that makes them cry. They want to cry. They want to feel. They want to see themselves on the stage. And I keep coming back, I guess, because I -- when I leave, I become a part of that audience and then I want it, too.'

-- Ntozake Shange

Inciting Incidents can knock you out of your seat like the sudden shooting of Waters in Charles Fuller's A SOLDIER'S PLAY. Or they can be so mild you'll miss them if you scratch your ear at the wrong moment: like when John says his wife might want to buy Ken's house in Lanford Wilson's FIFTH OF JULY.

And they come in only two varieties [another of those Rules that's meant to be broken] . . .

A single sentence or phrase of dialogue
A simple physical action

You can drop this thing on the audience like a sledgehammer. Or a daisy petal. But either way, most playwrights prefer using a line of dialogue rather than a visual image. There's an advantage to the daisy petal approach . . .

By using a first vague reference as the Inciting Incident, you can gradually clarify that initial hint over a number of pages. It's a great way to use up time. But in an interesting way for your audience.

The possible range of these things covers more than the waterfront . . .

Some Inciting Incidents

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