The Trigger – More Than An Inciting Incident

While even the non-writer will recognize that the climax is the character’s final battle, the end of the story, fewer know what to call the start of the story. Remember, there is no story without conflict. Therefore the story starts with a clear conflict. Writers will know the Inciting Incident or Inciting Event is often described as an occurrence that thrusts the main character into conflict. 

This simple explanation seems pretty straightforward, but just as we discussed with the Main Character and Opposition, the terms are also dramatically incomplete. A single incident/ event/ occurrence will rarely incite story-level conflict, and, more importantly, these events won’t happen on a certain page in a script. In order to define the events that spark story-level conflict for the different types of main characters and opposition, we’ll need a different term. 

A more accurate description for this term would be the Trigger. To fully understand how events can trigger conflict we must take a deeper look into the concept itself and how these events fit into a story. Whether the character must find their grail, stop some villain, escape some monster, or simply endure the wrath of mother nature, their search for a new, acceptable existence is the story’s conflict. 

In this article, we will break down the trigger into three parts of the trigger in order to find the reasons for the central conflict. The three parts are the status quo, the triggering events, and the inciting epiphany. We will then look at the four criteria of effective trigger. Finally, we will review how the trigger might appear in an effective logline.

1) The Status Quo

The main character’s status quo can be described as how the character lives prior to the story’s central conflict, no matter how different, strange, undesirable or unrecognizable a character’s life might be from the audience’s experience. The status quo has no stakes, nor does it force the character into action. The main character simply accepts their status quo. 

An example everyone knows, in Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope, Luke lives on a moisture farm with his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. We may not know what a moisture farm is, but it implies someone who lacks worldly wisdom, a stark contrast with the villain Darth Vader. Good David vs Evil Goliath.

More recently, in the surprisingly effective A Quiet Place: Day One (AQP:D1), the pessimistic loner Sam lives in a hospice outside of New York City with her service cat, Frodo. These names alone reveal the theme of friendship.

2) Triggering Events

These events provide the audience context for the conflict that will ultimately be resolved in the climax. The triggering events are in stark contrast with the character’s status quo. They change the circumstances of the main character, even if the character is not aware of them. However, the events themselves do not trigger the conflict.

The triggering events that eventually lead to Luke’s change of circumstances are numerous: There is Princess Leia’s capture, the escape of the droids to Tatooine, their capture by the Jawa traders, the purchase of the droids by Uncle Owen, the removal of R2’s restrictor bolt and subsequent escape. However, none of these describe a change in circumstances for Luke. Even Luke meeting Obi Wan doesn’t force Luke to act.

Back to AQP:D1, Sam is invited to go to a theater in New York City. She agrees, but only if they can stop for pizza afterwards. Very relatable. Then sound-sensitive aliens attack. While this forces her to endure, this is actually not the central conflict.

3) The Inciting Epiphany 

The final triggering event makes it clear to the main character that the negative consequences of ignoring the trigger events are too great to accept. Only when a character recognizes their circumstances have changed in some intolerable way can they be forced to find an acceptable existence. Their desired outcome may be an active goal, such as for the protagonist, or a reactive goal as we see in the hero. It may also be the recognition of why it is so important that they endure or survive. 

Returning to Star Wars, when Luke discovers his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru have been murdered, he recognizes the imperial forces will stop at nothing to retrieve the droids. He must join the rebellion.

In AQP:D1, Sam and some others watch as military planes blow up the bridges, cutting off any escape by foot. She realizes that everyone on the island is being sacrificed to slow the alien advance. While survival seems remote for others, that could never be her goal. AQP:D1 brilliantly shows how the goal, stakes, and climax can grow organically from the status quo and triggering events. Sam doesn’t have long to live, alien invasion or not. Instead, she and Frodo must endure a treacherous trek north to Harlem for a slice of pizza from a particular pizza parlor. Although this goal seems impossible, it comes with deeply personal stakes. 

A Triggering Event Doesn’t Always Lead to an Inciting Epiphany

For the protagonist, the inciting epiphany comes early when they realize the negative consequences for doing nothing are personal and immediate. It is important to understand that the inciting epiphany is not required to come on a certain page, or even at the start of a story. While the epiphany may come early in the story for a hero, for the so-called reluctant hero, it will come much later. A character may simply accept their change in circumstances. They may be aware of the negative consequences and still do nothing about it. This isn’t wrong. 

Many characters are not eager to engage in conflict until their stakes are high enough that they must act. If a triggering event doesn’t lead to an epiphany, then subsequent triggering events must turn the screws. The opposition must keep turning the screws until the main character finds the consequences of inaction unacceptable, forcing them into action. 

Stories with resister or trailblazer main characters will have multiple triggering events, each raising the stakes for the main character, testing their abilities or resolve. For the resister or trailblazer, the epiphany comes in the climax, at the culmination of many triggering events that finally force the character to fight, flight, or flee. 

Consider Red’s character in Shawshank Redemption. Red is an observer/ narrator of Andy’s story, but he is also a resister in his own story. He is cynical and pessimistic that he’ll ever be able to survive outside of prison. His epiphany comes after he’s paroled, when he digs up the box under the tree. Only then does he recognize that he has a choice. He has finally learned Andy’s lessons of hope. Failing to act here would have represented a tragedy of epic proportions.

Context for the Central Conflict

Thinking of the trigger in its three constituent parts will help the writer to clarify their central conflict. The status quo reflects the character’s life before the start of the conflict. The triggering events give the audience context for the conflict. And the inciting epiphany forces the main character into the conflict that will be resolved in the climax. 

More importantly, the climax reflects back to the trigger. Together they represent the start and end of conflict. To ensure the most effective conflict, the trigger and the story’s climax should be developed in tandem. To paraphrase Billy Wilder, if you have a problem with the climax, the real problem is in the trigger.”

The Four Characteristics of an Effective Trigger

1) A clear and simple triggering event, one that easily contrasts with the character’s status quo, will let the audience know that a story is about to start. A needlessly complex series of triggering events can be a caution sign for a confusing or convoluted plot. With a clear and simple trigger, the reader can focus on how they feel about the story instead of trying to interpret a complicated turn of phrase. The writer who tries to say too much instead says very little. 

2) A dynamic trigger is one that describes a substantial change in the external circumstances for the main character. This change should happen to the main character, rather than because of them. Consider that when the main character interrupts their own status quo there will be no stakes for the character for not acting towards their goal. The story could begin or end at any time depending on the whim of the character. 

3) Immediate refers to both time and place. Events that take place long ago, or far away from the main character will likely not have the same influence on them as those that happen in their presence. Distant events may be needed to establish context for the conflict. That’s fine for early triggering events. However, when the final event happens to, or is witnessed by the main character, both the character and the audience understands the stakes, and the character’s immediate need to act.

4) Life Changing describes the main character recognizing their change in circumstances. While early triggering events can be minor inconveniences, they will likely not be enough to force the character into action. In comparison, the final triggering event leading to the inciting epiphany must alter the main character’s status quo in completely unacceptable ways.

Describing the Trigger in a Logline

There’s simply not enough space in a logline to describe a complete status quo, every triggering event, and the inciting epiphany. Thankfully, it’s not necessary. Elements can pull double duty. A well-considered setting, character flaw or description can also give a strong indication of a character’s status quo. Luke is “a naive farm boy.” Sam is “a pessimistic loner living in hospice.”

The logline often focuses on the final triggering event that leads to the main character’s epiphany. But that might not help to clarify the central conflict. It might be better to summarize the triggering events. For Luke, the murder of his aunt and uncle ultimately forces him into action, but doesn’t help to describe the central conflict. A summary of the triggering events might describe Luke being “swept up in a galactic war.” The conflict might require a little more context. In AQP:D1, “After aliens invade New York City, the government cuts off any chance of escape…” 

It’s not necessary to describe the inciting epiphany in the logline. Remember, the inciting epiphany forces the character to act. Consider that the logline will also describe the character’s goals and stakes, which means that the character must have had their inciting epiphany. The reason the character must act will be assumed by the summary of the triggering events. Notice the emphasis on the words forces and must. They lead to our next subject: Goals.

Wrapping Up the Trigger In a Single Sentence

A clear/simple, dynamic, immediate, and life-changing trigger describes events that contrast sharply with the main character’s accepted status quo, making them aware their circumstances have changed, forcing them into a conflict that will be resolved in the climax.