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As I understand it, when considering the Three-Act Structure, the first half of Act One prior to the Inciting Incident is used to show the reader the 'Ordinary World'. In the story I am working on...
#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/44651 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/44651 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
As I understand it, when considering the Three-Act Structure, the first half of Act One prior to the Inciting Incident is used to show the reader the 'Ordinary World'. In the story I am working on, I spend that first half of Act One to develop characters, and introduce the setting, showing the reader who the protagonist is... only to have that protagonist flee for his life and abandon his ordinary world for good. My question is, is it good storytelling form to invite readers to invest in those characters and events, only to have them torn away?