I am so very far behind with the rest of the group regarding these challenges. I had hoped to have them all finished by now, but because I read slowly and with purpose, it’s taken me a bit longer than usual to get through all the questions. I hope for those in our Word Nerd group following these posts can understand my position. Also, as we go forward with the challenges, spoilers will be happening with the book. You’ve been warned.
For Challenge #5 in the Writer Igniter challenge, we are asked to unpack the inciting incident in our story. It’s where our character passes the point from Act 1 to Act 2.
In The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, the inciting event happens when Stella peeps at her parents having sex. Stella, like her siblings, could have slept through it every night, but one night Stella hears her mother’s voice and she sees her parents in the act. Stella is fascinated and disgusted by it all. She doesn’t like her father very much. He hasn’t been involved in her life for most of her 10 years. She finds him dirty and brutish. She also feels its unfair what “he’s doing to her mother”.
Tony catches his daughter peeping and comes over to the bed she is sleeping in with her siblings. He calls her a slut and tells her she’s a pervert for watching. He then reaches under his daughter’s nightdress, pinching her. Stella is determined not to cry out and stares down her father. He tells her no one is to ever touch her but her husband “Or I’ll kill you myself”.
Stella decides to never let anyone touch her or have sex with her. She has decided at the age of 10 never to get married if her parent’s so-called marriage is what it will be all about.
I feel sorry for the young Stella. While I do admire that she wants to be an independent woman, I feel bad because Stella is so fearful of the future. Her traditional way of being raised scares her. She has no positive role models. Stella feels her mother is a saint and the best person on this Earth, however, she can’t help but feel sorry for Assunta because she cannot stand up to her husband. Stella’s mother, aunts, and grandmother all repeat to her and her sister Tina how a good Italian girl grows up and gets married to be an obedient Italian wife and mother. There is no other goal for any female in their village but to get married. Even though everyone works, no one has any desire to move higher than where they are now in life.
I hope to keep up with the posts even though they’re moving behind the Member wall of DIYMFA as of today. Next up: Supporting Cast.