Story Catalysts: Accelerators, Instigators, Initiators, Inciters

You've got that dramatic arc you want to play out in the scene, but how do you start it? What kicks off or provokes the action? You need a catalyst or provocation which jumps starts a context for your plot point to exist within.

In chemistry, catalysis is the process of speeding up a chemical reaction; a sort of "shortcut" which lets a process happen in normal circumstances when it typically wouldn't. For example, Palladium is used in combustion engines to accelerate the attenuation of exhaust gases (e.g. CO), allowing their byproducts to be safer.

A Man Walks In With A Gun

In April 1950, novelist Raymond Chandler published an essay titled “The Simple Art of Murder” in a magazine called the Saturday Review of Literature, and he reflected on his background as an author in pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s. The tales about police officers, journalists, and detectives sometimes lacked realism Chandler said because they occurred during a compressed time-frame and involved an artificially close-knit group of people.

"This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action and if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand. This could get to be pretty silly but somehow it didn’t seem to matter. A writer who is afraid to over-reach himself is as useless as a general who is afraid to be wrong."

There's a subtle point amid the dramatic scenario here: it's hard to kick off scenes, and easy for the energy to be lost as you go on.

The answer? Have a bookcase of provocative events you can sprinkle across your script in structured fashion.

162 Scene-Opening Action Inciters

There are more, but even if you used twenty per screenplay, you'd have enough for 13 episodes or movies.

Each of these are design to incite, accelerate, provoke, instigate, or initiate a scene or dramatic segment. The essence of each comprises a sense of surprise or alarm, confronting your character and demanding a response.

1. A massive explosion out of nowhere
2. A scientist/technician makes a disturbing discovery
3. Something that should be here is missing
4. A man walks in with a gun
5. A beautiful girl in a dress walks by
6. Smoke starts to pour in through a window
7. There’s a secret passageway
8. I recognise someone in the photo
9. There’s an intruder
10. The guilty person has an alibi
11. An old friend arrives with bad news
12. Inspectors or authorities arrive to shut things down
13. Someone is caught in the act
14. A plea for help
15. Someone starts to feel unwell and collapses
16. Someone is watching or following
17. The food has run out
18. They are not who they think they are
19. We took the wrong turn
20. The device or chart readings are going off the chart
21. A clause in the contract/document invalidates or forbids the plan
22. Equipment or vehicle fatally malfunctions
23. A strange artefact is discovered
24. Someone has a hidden identity
25. I need to confess
26. An anonymous body washes up
27. Someone finds the answer or secret recipe
28. Hired by a mysterious benefactor
29. A menacing crowd has formed outside
30. Hostages start dying
31. Inspiration appears out of nowhere
32. All the money’s gone
33. Strange medical symptoms manifest
34. A prison guard offers to help
35. The broadcast is interrupted
36. A missile hits the building
37. A friend’s body has been taken over
38. A forgotten child appears
39. Helicopters above get closer
40. Science can’t recognise or explain it
41. An accident or embarrassment at an event
42. Witnessing an unexplained suicide
43. A machine becomes sentient
44. A doctor prescribes a terminal diagnosis
45. Finding something dreadful
46. A resignation is tendered
47. A clock starts ticking
48. A litigator discovers a get-out clause
49. A threatening electronic message arrives
50. Reality begins to disintegrate
51. We have to kill them all
52. The vehicle won’t start
53. A police officer arrives to arrest the innocent
54. The court hands down an unjust sentence
55. The water/chemical spill accelerates
56. A special power manifests for the first time
57. A marksman misses the target
58. The call cuts out
59. Side effects of a medication increase
60. An animal attacks violently
61. They aren’t responding
62. A counter-allegation is made
63. A strange signal is detected
64. A response is impolite
65. The launch goes wrong
66. Perpetrator saves the victim
67. An infant has been abandoned
68. An event of religious significance occurs
69. The door locks
70. A scandalous public accusation is made
71. The jury fails to convict
72. A witness recants their testimony
73. A VIP visits unexpectedly
74. Sudden loss of all memory
75. Something good is sabotaged
76. An interpreter is required
77. An innocent volunteers for the punishment
78. A prostitute is treated kindly
79. The environment erupts violently
80. A new boy/girlfriend attends the event
81. A gambling table has a bet which is lose/gain everything
82. We’ve made a catastrophic mistake
83. The vehicle won’t stop
84. A new system comes online
85. A strange guest at the funeral
86. An official notice is delivered
87. Something’s been stolen
88. No other survivors can be found
89. A non-human thing starts to speak
90. An assassin is stalking or waiting
91. A sudden religious epiphany or experience
92. An enemy produces blackmail material
93. The evidence is hidden
94. A kiss is interrupted
95. A tripwire detonates hiddy booby traps
96. A complaint is received
97. The crowd divides into tribes
98. Sexuality is switched
99. A lie or deception is detected
100. Governance collapses
101. A pregnancy test is positive
102. Something extraterrestrial arrives or appears
103. Offered an impossible dilemma choice
104. A disguise is removed
105. A protest turns violent
106. Secretly witnessing a mortal crime
107. Extra tickets are available
108. An obstacle blocks the path
109. An innocent person is beaten or victimised
110. A blueprint reveals a weakness
111. A organisation or building is raided
112. A spiritual entity begins its terrorism
113. An experiment goes terribly wrong
114. A check bounces
115. A brawl breaks out
116. A serious warning or threat is issued
117. A newspaper has printed a story
118. A child reveals abuse
119. An audience turns on the speaker
120. The boss produces an impossible case
121. The sex gets violent
122. A reward or ransom is offered
123. A homeless vagrant isn’t harmless
124. A spouse wants a break-up or divorce
125. A trail of blood is discovered
126. The trap fails
127. A billionaire pretends to be poor
128. A neighbour calls with strange information
129. An offender is expelled
130. Masked men jump out of a van
131. The truce is broken
132. The laws of nature stop applying
133. Signs have been left on a wall
134. A debt is called in
135. The company announces new management
136. A bribe is offered
137. An object is discovered to be a forgery
138. Someone hears a voice in their head
139. Don’t open that box
140. A journalist ruins the conference
141. A witness doesn’t speak up
142. A fantasy goes out of control
143. A secret organisation leaves a clue to its existence
144. A femme fatale begins her seduction
145. New rules are enforced
146. Someone reveals their death is iminent
147. An earpiece must be worn to receive instructions
148. A bomb explodes at an event
149. A kiss which shouldn’t have happened
150. Journalists are on the doorstep
151. The engines seize
152. Suddenly unable to do something you could before
153. The only route back disintegrates
154. An execution is delayed
155. A child behaves strangely
156. A monster isn’t malicious
157. A message from the future is discovered
158. A marriage isn’t legal
159. The violence gets sexual
160. Vandals have destroyed something precious
161. A spouse makes an unreasonable request
162. Someone is raging nearby.

-A-