Creative Exercise:

Think about some of your favorite stories. Can you spot the First Plot Points? Write a list of how the First Plot Points in these stories shake the characters’ normal worlds and force them to react.

 

Something to Think About:

1. Does your First Plot Point occur around the 25% mark?

 

2. How is your First Plot Point an event that changes everything and becomes a personal turning point for the main character?

 

3. Does your First Plot Point change the story so irrevocably that even the character’s surroundings (either the physical setting or the cast of supporting characters) are altered?

 

4. In what way does your protagonist react to your First Plot Point strongly and irretrievably?

 

5. Do your Inciting and Key Events take place within the first quarter of the book?

 

6. Does your Key Event follow the Inciting Event?

 

7. How does your Key Event pull the main character into the plot?

 

Resources:

• “Plot Points and the Inciting Incident,” Jim Hull

 

• “Maximize Your Story’s Inciting Event,” K.M. Weiland

 

• “How to Tell if Your Story Begins Too Soon,” K.M. Weiland

 

• “The Moment That Makes or Breaks Your Story,” Larry Brooks

 

• “Something to Get Inciting About,” Janice Hardy