The event that disturbs the status quo and sets the story's engine running.
The inciting incident (Save the Cat! calls it the Catalyst) is the intrusion the protagonist can't un-know: the letter arrives, the body is found, the offer is made. Before it, their life could have continued as it was; after it, some response is required.
It usually lands early — around 10–12% of the way in — and the most common structural note in coverage is that it arrives too late, after too much settling-in.
Go deeper: Save the Cat! — beat sheet
