A New Look at Plot Points

Updated and refurbished, the most looked-at article on this site gets updated by returning it to its original publishing status.

By far, the most popular post on this site is an article I wrote six years ago called Plot Points and the Inciting Incident. And by popular I mean 5x-8x more views then the 2nd most beloved article.

When I first published it back in 2010--when this site was called Story Fanatic--I had included a bunch of stills that better illustrated the difference between the what most poeple refer to as the Inciting Incident and the First Act Turn. Well I finally found time today to add those images back in.

If you haven't read it, I would highly suggest you do as it does a great job of explaining why Syd Field's concept of the Inciting Incident is deficient when discussing how a narrative works. Truthfully, any discussion of Inciting Incident lacks saliency as it is a completely subjective appreciation. A more accurate, refined take would be to think of the Story Drivers and how either Actions or Decisions propel a narrative from beginning and throughout each Act.