Exposition and Inciting Incident

Most consider exposition and inciting incident to be the most difficult parts of fiction plotting to pull off well. Grabbing a reader at the beginning of a work—without flaw—can be intimidating. This is why publishers usually want to see the first three chapters. The challenges are starting a story in the right place without dumping too much on your reader.

In exposition, the reader is introduced to characters and setting. The old adage says to begin stories with conflict. This method drops one’s reader right into the middle of some difficult situation where it’s easy to see heroes’ hearts. Action that’s outside your overall plot is allowed for the sake of characterization and in exposition is where this best fits. If a character is in law enforcement, readers see the protagonist in his truest form as he wraps up a case and confronts a minor antagonist.

The slow start caused by excessive back-story is a common exposition mistake. Even if you start with action, your reader only needs the most basic of details before the inciting incident kicks off the rising action.

Be afraid of giving too much away early. There’s a whole novel through which you can drop details. Be patient.