Catalyst on a Hot Tin Roof

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


One of the most intriguing parts of any tale is the inciting incident.  That turning point—when the main situation of the plot is set into motion—is when we find ourselves committed to the story to see how things are going to play out.

By this point we've usually gotten to know the characters and their normal circumstances.  Just as we've gotten acclimated, along comes the catalyst that turns everything upside down.

Back to the Future: Marty's about to lose track of time

In Back to the Future that moment comes when Marty escapes terrorists by speeding away in Doc Brown's time machine and finds himself transported back to 1955.

In most cases, the inciting incident is something that happens to the hero, not something he or she causes.  Even in The Hunger Games, when Katniss makes the decision to take her sister's place in the deadly contest, it is because she is forced by her own sense of duty to do so.

In a romantic tale, multiple events will come along to complicate things, but it's the moment the lovebirds first lay eyes on each other than can usually be considered the one that turns everything topsy-turvy.

Katniss pays tribute to her sister in The Hunger Games

How soon in the story it should take place will vary, but plotters generally agree that this catalytic converter should occur during the first quarter.  For example, in Back to the Future, it happens at exactly the 1/4 mark, 30 minutes into the two-hour movie.  In The Hunger Games, it occurs only 15 minutes into the 2 1/2 hour flick.

In a different kind of example, the Oscar winner American Beauty centers around Lester's midlife crisis, which is triggered by more than one thing, including a lousy job and a cheating wife.  But the pivotal moment comes when he attends a school event and becomes enamored with his daughter's friend.  Everything prior is setup.  That inciting incident, for the record, takes place 15 minutes into the two-hour film.

Lester's life is about to change, and not for the better

Basically, the inciting incident is the event without which the main story cannot happen.  Doc Brown can invent a time machine, hunger games will take place no matter what, and Lester's unsatisfying life is already underway, but without these other key moments, the main crisis will not be inflicted upon the hero.

The most effective inciting incident will cause the audience to wonder how in the world he/she is gonna prevail over this problem.  At the very least, it will set the stage for bigger crises to increase the dilemma later.

Done right, this turning point will not only ignite the TNT of your story, but will become the no-turning-back moment for your reader too.

Where Do I Begin?

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


You have an awesome idea for a novel.  You may even know how it should end.  Sometimes, the trickier part is knowing how you should begin the whole thing.  With that in mind, here are three typical story openers which have stood the test of time.


THE CATCH UP

Think of this as "Once upon a time" or "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."  Fairy tales and sci-fi depend on this approach if a degree of backstory is necessary for the audience to understand what's about to happen. Why is the queen jealous of Snow White? Why are there star wars? We get the info we need right up front. 

When using this approach, be careful not to overload the first chapter with voluminous details to learn.  Readers exhaust quickly if they're required to sort out TMI.  Instead, ease into unfamiliar territory with the grace of Suzanne Collins. While there is much to learn about the dystopian world of the future, The Hunger Games filters in explanations of reapings and District 12 painlessly, alongside an identifiable story that keeps moving.

The Little Mermaid wants to be part of your world.

THE SET UP

Establishing the hero's current (i.e. "normal") circumstances before they are thrown into chaos is among the most popular story openers. It's a plus if it offers a glimpse of what they lack in life, to get your character arc off and running. A Disney heroine or Julie Andrews on a mountaintop aren't the only ones who can make their desires known in their first scene.

The opening chapter is prime time for interaction with supporting characters, and can convey the hero's personality and motivations more easily than a solo scene.  Take care, however, to have enough going on that things don't get bogged down in normalcy.  The audience wants to know and empathize with the characters, but is also eager for something to happen.

FIRE 'EM UP

Even before the opening credits, James Bond knows that some audiences like to be shaken, not stirred. The chase is on and no time is wasted getting the action underway.  Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws and countless other action sagas have grabbed attention from the get-go by jumping right into an inciting scene.

In the case of James Bond, we already know 007 chases bad guys, so no backstory is needed before the thrills begin.  However, if your story stars unfamiliar characters, you'll want to introduce them somewhat before throwing them into the furnace. Otherwise, the audience—which has no investment in these people yet—has little reason to care what happens to any of them.

There you have just three effective ways to start your story.  Perhaps you know some others.  I'd love to hear your favorite openers with a comment below, or via email at gary @ southernwritersmag.com. Ready?  Begin!

My Writing Career, To Date—What is Yours?

By Kerry Nietz

I lost track of the number of times I heard the questions. Usually they came coupled with an incredulous stare.

“You want to be writer? Did you take any writing courses in college?”

To which I’d shrug and say: “I took a technical writing course in college.”

More stares.

“Well, yeah, my major was computer science.”

It never seemed strange to me that someone who was trained in a technical field could want to become a writer later—over a decade after being established in their career. It was something I always hoped to do. But for many people, my change of focus was unexpected. I’d broken an unwritten rule: People who want to write, plan their careers accordingly.

It has always been about setting challenges, though. About testing myself. Regardless of what the rules were. Regardless of how you’re supposed to do it.

I spent my share of time in the corner in grade school…

I did write my first book, though. Entitled Fox Tales, it is a memoire of my first four years in the software industry. The subject matter wasn’t the challenge, obviously. The writing was. It took me a few iterations to get it right, and many rejections to get it published, but my story found a cover in 2003 and got great reviews. Following conventional writing wisdom, it was written in first person past tense.

The prologue, however, was written in first person present tense. Curiously, that chapter also got the most remarks from readers. There was something about the in-the-moment feel of it that they enjoyed. Those remarks stuck with me. I wondered if I could ever write a whole novel in that tense and point-of-view.

Skip ahead five years. I’d written a handful of novels, but sold none of them. The idea of a first-person present tense novel still itched at me, and I also had this idea for a story about a guy who fixes robots.

“This is it,” I told myself. “I’m going to write this one last story.”

I was also going to throw out the rules again, because every writing book I’d ever read said that first novels should be written in either first or third person past tense. I was going to accept my own challenge, and if that didn’t work, maybe I would look at doing something else. Maybe those early detractors were right.

Six months later the first draft of that novel, A Star Curiously Singing, was finished. More importantly, that novel was published in October of 2009 by Marcher Lord Press. It went on to be a finalist for three different awards and win the Readers Favorite award for Christian Science Fiction. It also earned an average 4.8 out of 5 stars rating on Amazon with over 70 reviews. (Coincidentally, another first person present tense novel was published a month prior to mine. The Hunger Games)

I went on to complete a trilogy and another standalone in that same in-the-moment style.

Skip ahead another three years. There was this longstanding joke title in the Christian speculative fiction community. It was something my publisher used to share at writing conferences as the only sort of Amish fiction that Marcher Lord Press might accept: Amish Vampires in Space.

The title got me thinking. Was it possible to write a novel that was faithful to all three genres—Amish fiction, Vampire fiction and Science fiction—and yet still tell a plausible and compelling story? Could that campy title serve as a premise for a serious novel?

I started writing. A few months later I was 30,000 words in, and felt happy about what I’d done. I told my publisher and he encouraged me to continue. On October 1^st of 2013, four years after my first novel, and ten years after my first book, Amish Vampires in Space was published.

That wasn’t the end of the story, though. Two months later Marcher Lord Press was sold, and the new owner decided he didn’t want my genre mash up in the catalog.

“Why?” I asked. “Reviews have been generally good, sales are on par with other Marcher Lord titles. There has been lots of buzz…” Plus, I knew the book was respectfully done. It didn’t demean or villainize anyone. Except vampires.

The answer was elusive, though. All I got was: “It would not have been a book I would’ve published.” 

“Why?” 

“To actually create or incarnate a punchline isn’t something I would’ve done.”

So there it was. Again in meeting a personal challenge, I’d broken another rule. Inadvertently.

At least I’m consistent.

_______________________________________________________________________

Kerry Nietz is a refugee of the software industry. He spent more than a decade of his life flipping bits, first as one of the principal developers of the database product FoxPro for the now mythical Fox Software, and then as one of Bill Gates's minions at Microsoft. He is a husband, a father, a technophile and a movie buff. He has one non-fiction book, a memoir entitled FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software. His first novel, A Star Curiously Singing, was published in October of 2009. His recent book, Amish Vampires in Space made Jimmy Fallon’s list. He has an article, “Making Space for Amish Vampires,” recently published in Southern Writers Magazine, May/June 2014 issue. His website is www.nietz.com

The Next Big Thing

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

This past Saturday, as I approached the TV room to eat lunch (yes, I usually eat in front of the TV; I'm all about multitasking), I heard a woman singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" on the set. There must be a Christmas concert on, I thought.  When I arrived, it turned out to be Carol Brady singing in her church, circa 1969.

It was the Brady Bunch's first Christmas as a blended family. All the kids were there, smiling proudly from the pews as their mother sang Oh come, let us adore him, Christ our Lord.  Little Cindy gave her new stepdad a grateful smile when he put his arm around her. Alice might have even been present, comically tearing up as she often did during any tender moment.

While I watched, I could only think how unlikely it would be for such a scene to appear on a modern-day sitcom. Even on TV Land, where this vintage show was airing, the newer comedies feature anything but a wholesome family unit.  If alien lifeforms tuned into today's TV they would assume that everyone on Earth is permanently divorced and cranky.

Entertainment gets less innocent and more cynical as each year passes.  We see it in books, films, music, art, everywhere we look. In a world where Hannah Montanas become Miley Cyruses, it's a fair question to ask, "Huh?"

Part of the answer is, we are wired to always be looking for the next big thing.  And, by its nature, the next big thing can't be like the old thing.  There has to be something extra, and the trend has always been to make it more extreme.

Take young adult fiction. It wasn't that long ago when Harry Potter stirred up a cauldron of controversy. A short time later, the tide turned toward vampires.  Riding the bloody waves of Twilight, there was even a book and a movie called Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.  I expect any day now to see Benjamin Franklin, Zombie Slayer.

The Hardy Boys have given way to The Hunger Games.  Nancy Drew is now Divergent.  Brilliant and imaginative, these new series replace G-rated mysteries about missing maps with dark, dystopian content.  Critics fear they encourage rebellion while fans praise them for the theme of overcoming suppression.  Either way, they're flying off the shelves.

On TV and in movies, portrayals of sex, drugs, rock & roll and violence are off the charts, alongside language that used to be considered not ready for prime time.  Edgy sells.  Controversy means publicity.

Without even debating the rightness or wrongness of any of the above, one does have to wonder where it will end.  How much further can we go before all sense and sensibility, values and virtues live only in nostalgia?

I applaud the many Southern writers we are privileged to work with who strive for something better. These are the ones who realize it's possible to grab a reader's attention without offending half their audience.  They weave a masterful tale and leave the reader feeling like they've traveled a high road and not spent the weekend in Babylon.

Wherever you are in your own journey as a writer or a reader, I invite you to buck what some call progress and follow the road less traveled. If more authors and audiences demanded it, maybe the next big thing could be a return to something that's easy to feel is gone forever.

Together we could make Alice cry more happy tears.