“The chronological beginning of a story is not always the best place to start,” writes Karen Debonis in a post on Writers in the Storm. “In fact, beginning a story in the middle is sometimes the best place to start.”
The technique – known to high schoolers everywhere as in medias res – throws the reader into the middle of the story on page one. In some cases, the inciting incident occurs immediately, and in others, the story starts at the climax and reveals what led to it. A story may even begin at a time long after the events of the novel have occurred.
Debonis suggests a few considerations for writers using in medias res:
- Make your opening scene urgent and integral to the plot, with high stakes.
- The technique works best if the opening is closer to the middle or end of the story. If the opening starts close enough to the beginning, you might not need flashbacks. You can handle backstory in dialogue.
- A traditional narrative arc may work best for stories that cover a short time period because there’s less time to cover between the absolute beginning and the core of your story or because your character may not experience dramatic change.
Debonis shares examples of memoirs that being in medias res, including The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls; The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion; Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. She also find some examples in fiction, including The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.
