Your Personal Writing Process
What's in a prompt? Why use them?
Who you are as a writer (or artist) matters. How you do what you do, and how you respond and react to all that’s being thrown at you is also a part of your practice. It’s a huge balancing act to be able to show up for the work every day (if that’s what you do) or when you can (if that’s what you do) in this election-year, late-stage capitalist, climate disaster, end-of-democracy, genocidal moment. Prompts help.
Writing Prompt: The Inciting Incident - something that happens usually to the protagonist (or to an ensemble of characters) that causes wants/needs to push the protagonist (or ensemble) to act.
The striking of the match to inflame the character to action. E.G. a stranger coming to town or a home-coming, a home-leaving, or new knowledge, whatever it is, it’s always an EVENT.
An EVENT is what forces the action forward, changes the playing field, or raises the stakes. IN DIALOGUE an event is a revelation, a recognition, a decision, a proposal, promise/vow or a threat.
This was part of my Craft Prompt for this week’s Brave Space, and I want to write about it to give you an idea of different ways to think about prompts and how to use them, and what to make of them and why you might use one even if you’re in the middle of a project, and you’re feeling fine.
artwork “Mother Liberty” by Scott Sherman on instagram at ScottShermanStudio
Prompts will remind you that it comes from you. How do you play with or use the idea of this craft tool? Whether it’s the Inciting Incident prompt or something else, what is Your Process? Are you in your Blue Period or your Blood-Red Period? Is your mandate, “burn it down!” Or are you writing a series of flash fictions immortalizing Household Gadgets? What is Your Project? What would you want it to be if you had one?
Usually stories begin in stasis, the way things are, and then there is the Inciting Incident. Inciting the characters to action! Activity can be the surface of that action and a metaphor for the action, but action is bigger than activity.
If the activity is to deal with the broken glass in the kitchen, maybe the action is to get Dad to stop drinking. (Do-able activity, larger want.)
Maybe Joanna, our dutiful daughter character, decides (decisions are events) (while sweeping up the glass) to stop and let Dad cut his foot on it. Maybe what Joanna really wants is for the family to wake up and start healing. There are steps to this action, like waking up to her own enabling and dealing with the consequences.
So think about how your Inciting Incident might cause a need for Action which might inspire an Activity that works together to create a scene...
Joanna cleaning up the glass is stasis, the way things are. She always enables Dad’s drinking by trying to fix things. Then Joanna has a Moment of Recognition! So she stops cleaning. Enter Dad barefoot. We see Joanna torn, maybe even starting to warn Dad when boom - Dad cuts his foot! Joanna's activity shifts (but the action remains the same). She cleans the wound and bandages it, but the action is to get Dad to see the problem. He can wake up and agree to try to change or refuse to wake up. But Joanna has done something and has learned something and something has changed. She probably has another MOMENT OF RECOGNITION based on Dad's response, whatever it is.
In this little scene, the Inciting Incident is a realization (event) which happens to be a MOMENT OF RECOGNITION that pushes Joanna to do something different. It is a force - think rules of motion - it is a moment that ACTS on Joanna to change course - STOP cleaning up after Dad...
But it could also be Mom entering, seeing the broken glass and telling Joanna to stop cleaning up. Maybe Joanna doesn't have a MOMENT of RECOGNITION until she's bandaging Dad's foot. Maybe by bringing in Mom, you create an added step, another Event, and show more clearly how Joanna is torn between listening to Mom and taking care of Dad. So it can be complicated and complex. With lots of moving parts. But what is your INCITING INCIDENT? How does it spark ACTION and influence your choice of activity?
If you are finished with at least a draft of the entire thing so that you have actually written (not just imagined) the end of the arc/action, consider how the Inciting Incident (way back at the beginning) started a series of Actions, and how this particular ending, where you are now, is supposed to be the end of the Action including the WANTS/NEEDS that arose out of the force that was the Inciting Incident. Does it make sense that it ends where it does? Is the ending Inevitable In Retrospect and yet also surprising or unexpected? Does it feel earned? Does it feel complete?
So you can see if you’re starting or ending or revising your project, checking in with your Inciting Incident might be helpful. And if you are writing something that has no formal structure yet, you can also consider the Inciting Incident to be a formal constraint you could approach very differently. You could remove it completely. Put it in your backstory. Decide you are writing beyond an Inciting Incident, discard it altogether. If you’re not trying to write a Hollywood blockbuster (and no judgment, but not everyone is), you could create multiple Inciting Incidents. You could mess with narrative in a different way (see Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler…) or you could begin to think about the Inciting Incident as a way to end your story instead of starting with it. You can have it your way.
Of course if you’re working in a different medium completely, you might want to use an Inciting Incident conceptually, or put an Inciting Incident in a song or make a dance from it. Or you could use a poem as a prompt. There is always a poem or two in Brave Space for this purpose. Poetry shakes things loose and changes how we look at everything.
Whatever you use as your prompt today, do as much of You as you can do. Think about which processes work best for you. Tell me about it. Articulating it or putting it into words helps.
The more aware you are of what works for you, the more you can depend on and use what works. And that’s a necessity in this distracting world.
Announcements:
AMAZING People Doing AMAZING Things:
Shellen Lubin is directing Observant 9/12 - 9/28 at The Chain Theatre, NYC.
Beth Linck’s play Blood of the Lamb opens at 59E59, NYC, this week, 9/14 - 10/20.
Gina Femia’s Novel-Writing Workshop starts Wednesday, 10/2 from 6 - 830pm ET online!
Urban Stages presents People of the Book by Yussef El-Guindi 10/4 - 11/3.
Donna Minkowitz will read from her new book, DONNAVILLE, at the Bureau of General Studies – Queer Division on Thursday, 10/17 at 7 PM! 208 W. 13th St. NYC.
Julia Barclay-Morton is offering An Invitation to Intuitive Processing, a new writing workshop, to start 10/22 Thursdays online, 7pm - 9pm ET.
Deadlines:
Due by Friday September 13th! Apply to the Jam at New Georges (for NYC-based or able to travel to NYC easily 2x/month for 2 years, women+ theatre artists) For information click here. And for the application click here.
Due by September 15th, Cape Cod Theatre Project applications!
Due by October 1st, Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival submit large cast plays for college-aged actors or submit short plays!
Due by October 7th, New Harmony applications for Playwriting Residencies are due!
Due by October 15th, Great Plains Theatre Commons has a fabulous festival every year that I highly recommend! Send them a play!
Jenna Lourenco is looking for Autistic Theatre People for a study Examining Environmental & Cultural Challenges to Autistic Accessibility in Theatre Workspaces" through the end of October 2024 at this link!
Due by November 1st, Premiere Stages at Kean Festival send them your work!
Brave Space Schedule:
9/15 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space
9/16 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
9/17 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshp
Tuesday 7pm ET Brave Group Coaching 2/6
9/18 Wednesday 12pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching
9/19 Thursday 12pm ET Brave Space
9/20 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
9/21 Saturday 2pm ET Brave Playwrights Workshop week 2 of 10
9/22 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space
9/23 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
9/24 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshp
Tuesday 7 pm ET Brave Group Coaching week 3/6
9/25 Wednesday 12pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching
9/26 Thursday 12pm ET Brave Space
9/27 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
Friday 3pm ET Brave Sharing Salon!
9/28 Saturday 2pm ET Brave Playwrights Workshop week 3 of 10
9/29 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space
9/30 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
10/1 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshp
Tuesday 7pm ET Brave Group Coaching 4/6
10/2 Wednesday 12pm Advanced Group Coaching
10/4 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
10/5 Saturday 2pm Et Brave Playwrights Workshop 4/10
Each week Tuesdays includes fast feedback for up to 1 page (@250 words) of writing.
Each month there are 2 Sharing Salons: Second Sundays (730pm ET) and Final Fridays (3pm ET) for sharing up to 10 minutes of work (less than 1500 words).
The inciting incident as a concept is interesting in plays... I've always felt that in character development, there are so many 'inciting incidents' in the history of the character. When you've described IFS, I've always imagined the events of the past that created my parts are inciting incidents. So with one of the characters I'm writing now, there is really an event in her past that has dominated her. But that isn't at the beginning of the play. Does that make sense? Anyway, I guess the question I'm asking is how broadly can we define the term 'inciting event?' Is it the 'event' that begins the play or the event that is ultimately responsible for the character's mindset when she responds to the event that begins the play???
Thanks for this, Emma- -just when I needed it!