Nano Prep October 2019

Day 7 - Plot: Beginning (where does your story start)

O ct. 07: - Plot: Beginning (Where does your story start?) ▼
(1) Describe your protagonist's life in the beginning ("Ordinary World" or "Stasis") of the story. Brainstorm ways you could establish normality through action and dialog to avoid boring your reader.

My story begins with Arlynn living and working in the Big City. She is unhappy in her current job, feeling that it limits her and her abilities, but she is too nervous to do anything about it. She lives with her boyfriend, Lance who is a controlling person. He restricts her friendships, particularly to Jim, a co-worker who is a homosexual. Lance does not trust him - gay or not. He is okay with her friendship with Sheila, but though he claims to not like her, he is secretly having an affair with her. This allows him to control the interactions of both women.
Is he also passive aggressive??
It is Jim and his partner, David, that help Arlynn navigate after the inciting event.

(2) Describe the inciting incident or trigger ("Call to Adventure") that prompts your protagonist(s) to embark on this story's journey (whether literal or metaphorical) and face the conflict. This incident could be large and obvious like a death or disaster, or it could be seemingly insignificant, such as an offhand comment by another character.

The inciting incident is when she happens to see Lance and Sheila kissing.... though this is after she is wondering how Sheila managed to steal her graphic art designs that manage to get her a promotion - one Arlynn was hoping to get. Seeing this makes the pieces fall into place and she quickly takes action to distance herself from him and get herself out of her job. She also learns she has an ally in the supervisor she thought hated her and her work.