Shape of a Tale; The Introduction
Introductions are hard. Ask any introvert like me who’s been tasked with writing an “about me” section to introduce themselves.
But that difficulty comes from what is also the greatest strength. There’s no prior expectations, or at least there’s very limited prior expectations. As quiet and awkward as I can be at times I used to love being invited to parties where I only knew one or two people and everyone else was a stranger, because I got to just cut lose and be myself without any concern for “what are these people expecting from me?”. And no fear of “what if they don’t want to talk to me again” because I’d probably never see them again anyway.
Same thing applies with a story. The introduction is a period of liberation. There’s no risk of breaking the stories own internal logic in the readers mind because at this point that internal logic hasn’t been defined yet. The introduction is the part of the story with the most raw, undiluted potential for pure creativity.
I define this phase as roughly the first ten percent or so of most stories. There isn’t really a clear cut off point in when it ends - there’s a few “key moments” for a good introduction I’ll get into in a moment, but they can overlap and don’t need to be in any specific order. But you know when you’re watching a movie or reading a book when this phase has ended. The point in the story where you feel like you have a grasp of the world and who the main characters are. The point where, if someone came up and asked you what the story was about, you’d be able to give them a rough answer, instead of just pointing to the blurb or giving a vague “I don’t know I just started!”.
As far as structure for the introduction goes. The goal is to give the audience that grounding and establish context for everything to come. What that means to different authors is different, and you’ll notice that if you pay attention to different works. Some spend time in the “ordinary world” before a big shift happens. Others jump straight into the plot just with more detailed introductions and descriptions than they would worry about later.
There are a couple of key moments to keep in mind though. Sometimes these can overlap and all happen within a single scene, sometimes they’re spaced out over multiple chapters, but most audiences will have some intuitive sense for them and feel unsatisfied if they don’t occur.
The Hook
The hook is generally the opening scene of the story. My take on this is a little different than most though. Usually when you see this discussed the goal is to capture the audience’s attention quickly and make them want to read the next page. Hence why it’s referred to as “the hook” in the first place.
I have two problems with that mindset. One, making a scene the audience wants to keep reading/watching should be the goal of every page. Only thinking about the first few pages or scenes as important this way is a sign you’re putting “selling copies” as a higher priority than “making a good story”. Which, yeah, sure, that’s capitalist economy 101. Have you also noticed how many movies and stories there are these days that audiences talk about as being a “soulless cash grab”?
My second problem with that thinking is it assumes the audience has just started reading on page one, or put on the movie, in a complete vaccuum. No reading blurbs, no seeing the cover art, no trailers, no marketing, not even a friend excitedly telling them the gist of what it’s about and why they might like it. Accomplishing that in todays world is an effort, and someone willing to make that much effort to go in blind isn’t going to be swayed by whether or not the opening chapter has a fancy sword fight.
That being said, I do think the opening scene has a little more heavy lifting to do than the rest of the plot. It’s where the story itself is introduced. What kind of genre is it, what’s the perspective for narration, what’s the feel of experiencing that story. End of the day we like stories for how they feel on an emotional level, not because it’s a requirement. That’s the element that the blurb, cover art and marketing can’t really tell you.
The hook therefor isn’t to get the audience to give the story a chance, it’s to convince the audience the work itself can deliver. It’s where they get a taste of the writing, or for film the direction. Is this going to be an experience they can lose themselves in the story, or not? The most incredible story in the world means nothing if the delivery is terrible.
So when deciding what the opening scene should be, consider “what would best capture the feel of this whole story?”
The Inciting Incident
This is one that needs to be included somewhere in the introduction, but the exact timing can vary a lot depending on the story.
So the idea of the inciting incident is it’s the moment that kicks off the plot. The thing that is responsible for why this story is a story and not just another random day. Literally the incident that incites the plot to happen.
But consider Spider-man. Is the inciting incident when he gets bitten and gains his powers? Or is it when Uncle Ben dies? Or is it when the villain of the story begins their plans? Or is it when those plans come to the heroes attention?
Honestly it depends on the story being told.
If the heart of the story is the hero trying to solve a problem, and the climax of the story is the resolution of that problem, then the inciting incident is what causes that problem. It’s the moment that raises the question the story will go on to answer.
So if the stories question is “Will Peter Parker learn to master his powers?” then him getting bitten by a radioactive spider is the inciting incident. If the question is “Can Spiderman defeat Venom?” then the inciting incident is Venom showing up, and Peter gaining powers is just part of establishing his character, if it’s shown at all.
Now generally as a default I would say the inciting incident happens at the end of the introduction phase, as the signal that the introduction is over and the main plot is underway. But it doesn’t always make sense to have the start of the main plot wait like this, even with a relatively short introduction phase.
In a crime novel for example, the inciting incident will often be the initial hook scene as well. The crime happening, or the detective being hired for the case. The first Dresden Files novel, which is urban fantasy but heavily draws on film noir style mystery, starts with Harry being hired for two cases simultaneously (which, spoilers, wind up being related to each other), and it’s hard to argue against that being the inciting incident of the story. It then goes on to several short chapters back to back which make up what I would consider the introduction of the story - visiting the crime scene, having the local mobster try and talk him down from the case, meeting with his future love interest. Pretty much everything up to when he makes his first visit to a potential witness.
Although, an argument could be made that the story just has an extremely short introduction phase, and everything after the crime scene in chapter two is the exploration phase. It again depends largely on how you’re defining things, and my definition of an introduction phase makes up about a third to a half of what would generally be considered the first act of a three act structure, so consider this a good reminder that in any creative artform rules are only there to teach you how to break them.
What matters is thinking about what moment pushes the rest of the plot into motion. Why are these characters getting involved in the first place? Why is the story happening now and not a week earlier or a month later? Does this happen during the first hook scene or is there something else that pushes the characters into action?
Meeting the Characters
Most of the scenes in this introduction phase should be centered around establishing the main cast of characters. Not EVERY character needs to be included in this phase with their own scene for introduction, and grouping some characters together is fine (especially if they always appear as a group in some way).
But pretty much every scene in this introduction phase that isn’t the hook or the inciting incident should be focused around introducing a new character or concept that’s part of the world. Both at once where possible.
How do you know if a character needs to be included in the introduction phase or can show up later on? I’ve legitimately re-written this article five times already trying to give an answer to that I’m satisfied with, but honestly the best I’ve got is instinct. And perhaps the question of how involved is this character in the plot. If they’re a main character then clearly they should be covered here. If they’re a part of the main characters regular life from the start, then they should at least get a mention during this phase of the story.
In short, do you need to know this character for the story to make sense? If so they should get brought in during the introduction, and every scene in the introduction should be bringing in a new character (or concept about the world). Remember this phase of the story is all about laying the foundations for the audience to understand the rest of what’s the come.
Raising Questions
Questions are what drives any story forward. While the introduction is mostly focused on giving the audience information to understand the story, it’s also going to get boring fast if there’s no new questions being asked.
Ideally, those a questions raised BY the answers for who what when where and why.
For example, you’ve introduced that this is a world with magic in it. How does that magic work, what limits does it have? Good questions to explore later!
You’ve introduced the main hero of the story! She’s happy and friendly, and every time someone mentions her past her mind goes completely blank for a few seconds and everyone around her looks scared. What the hell happened in her past? Excellent question!
The villains name has been mentioned several times in hushed whispers, with people refusing to talk about them enough to give away any details. Who is that person?
And, of course, the big story questions should be raised during the introduction. What is the problem the hero is trying to solve? What do they need to do, or learn, to accomplish that? Who or what is the main thing standing in their way? And Why are THEY the ones who have to deal with it, instead of someone else?
