What are some examples of an inciting incident that would force a character to go on a quest or adventure?
I've noticed that my novel is missing a really strong inciting incident and I can't think of anything strong enough to suffice. The only inciting incidents I'm familiar with seeing in nearly every book is having the protagonist's family be taken or in a position of danger or dump the character in a new environment that they have no choice but to go through. Neither idea works for my novel so I have no idea what to do and can't find any more ideas anywhere.
My original incentive was to have my character go on this quest because he was having debilitating visions that he couldn't control and going on this quest would give him answers and a way to stop it. But I've found that this is way too weak to work. (By the way, his quest is to go and find a goddess who has been captured because only he has the knowledge to find her) (Also, the world is at stake but they don't know that)
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If your character has no reason at all to go on the Plot Quest, then you're missing more than an inciting incident - you're missing a functional antagonist. The antagonist is often (not always) the force behind the inciting incident. It's literally the antagonist's job to be the thing that drives the protagonist forward. If you don't have an antagonist, your protagonist has no reason to move.
So consider: What is preventing your character from finding the goddess? If nothing is preventing him, why not?
My own beta described this phenomenon as "someone in this story needs to want something". Either your protagonist needs to want to find the goddess despite obstacles standing in his way (in which case whatever alerts him to the existence of the goddess and the benefits of finding her is your inciting incident), or someone wants to stop him from finding the goddess badly enough to take action to prevent him (which would result in your inciting incident, as your protagonist narrowly escapes whatever the antagonist does to stop him).
Figure out what's standing in your protagonist's way. Once you know that, you'll be able to craft an appropriate inciting incident based on that antagonist.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38697. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Greed can be an inciting event. People go looking for treasure, to escape poverty.
Knowledge can be an inciting event. Suppose the MC knows she and her village are powerless to confront an evil overlord, but in having these dreams of a trapped goddess she believes are real visions, the MC realizes if she can save the goddess and unleash her power, the goddess will owe her a favor and help fight the evil overlord oppressing her village. (And also save the world.)
Restless curiosity can be an inciting event; for men or women. They are bored with the village and the sameness of it all, they aren't interested in ANY of their romantic prospects, they are about to be forced to choose an empty life: They run away.
Love or Altruism can be an inciting incident. In The Hunger Games, the girl volunteers to take her sister's place, out of love. Altruism can work similarly, our MC loves somebody, relative or not, that needs something or wants something they cannot get themselves. Medicine, a magical amulet, whatever. Our MC for the sake of their friend's well-being or happiness chooses the quest. ("Friend" could instead be a parent, grandparent, a mentor, a teacher, a sibling, anybody they love that cannot go themselves.)
The quest is to get something. It could be a physical thing, a favor, some kind of knowledge, or just excitement, or justice, or power, or to find love.
It can be a personal thing, or a thing on behalf of somebody else. Give your character something they want and want very badly. That is why they risk their lives on this quest.
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