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Another example (1985 - a TV adaptation) - where is the "inciting incident" in "No Surrender"? The story is a gradual build-up of incidents, none of which is an "inciting incident" www.imdb.com/title/tt0089...

imdb.comimdb.com

Clive Warner

@adventurist.bsky.social

Which indicates much of what is wrong with the book business. Please explain to me the "inciting incident" in, say, ANY of John Cowper Powys's books. EG Maiden Castle. The whole concept is against stories in which a normal life gradually disintegrates under a gradual onslaught of small things.

Every single classic that we looked at in our Story Skeleton series had an inciting incident, and I don't believe that's because the authors planned out all their plot points. And the inciting incidents were often subtle or buried in backstory.

I haven't read his books, but I've also come across very very few books without an inciting incident. It could be that his are subtle. I'll have to pick one up!

Clive Warner

@adventurist.bsky.social

Another example: The Hours, which was a NYT best seller. I read it; it was terrible. All I recall is that the whole book was people talking in a room until at the end, one of them throws himself out the window.

darlingaxe.comStory Skeleton—To the LighthouseBut does this count as plot? Doesn’t plot require a protagonist? Doesn’t plot require an inciting incident, an arc, and a climax?

Okay, The Hours. No idea. It looks very experimental, which makes sense given the Woolf inspiration. To the Lighthouse is also a doozy. There is a plot, but it's very hidden. Not even the protagonist is certain. Here's my take: darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/t...