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Unravel the Secrets of Spellbinding Narratives With These Five Commandments of Storytelling

Crucial elements that make your readers want more

Rick Martinez
4 min readJul 31, 2023
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Writing a compelling and engaging story is a craft that requires understanding the core principles of storytelling.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned writer, these principles serve as a roadmap guiding you toward creating a captivating narrative. The five commandments of storytelling — Inciting Incident, Progressive Complication, Crisis, Climax, and Resolution — are the key elements that structure your story and engage your readers.

This is what I mean, with an example of each point.

Inciting Incident

As a beginner writer, it’s crucial to get your story rolling with an event that disrupts your main character’s world.

This is your inciting incident.

It should challenge the status quo and provoke a response from your protagonist. For instance, the protagonist might discover a secret, lose their job, or meet a stranger. This incident acts as a catalyst, thrusting your character into an unforeseen situation and setting the stage for the events to follow.

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Rick Martinez
Rick Martinez

Written by Rick Martinez

💡 Creator: The 7 Day Book Writing Challenge™️ 🏋🏻‍♂️ CrossFitter 📚 Bestselling Author 👊🏼 Helping you write your book WICKED fast www.WriteYourFirstBook.com

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