Beating Broadway: How to Create Stories for Musicals That Get Standing Ovations

by Steve Cuden

The inciting incident is the spark that lights the fire under the protagonist to head toward his superobjective. Once the protagonist is clearly motivated and on his way toward achieving his goal, he must undergo many trials. That means that he will encounter troubles and problems in every moment of his journey. Each of these troubles or struggles represents a separate goal or goals for each individual scene. These individual goals are called objectives. Though each objective may or may not be directly related to the superobjective, it will be necessary for your protagonist to meet those individual objectives before moving on toward eventually achieving his overall superobjective. These endless obstacles should increase in scope as the show progresses. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the obstacles become bigger, though they can, but they should definitely become harder, more frustrating, and more onerous the deeper the protagonist moves toward his goal. As his troubles increase in difficulty, so should the intensity of the emotions that the protagonist feels. This is part of what’s known as “rising action.”