In medias res

In medias res means opening a story in the middle of the action already underway, rather than at the chronological beginning, and supplying the earlier events later.

In medias res is Latin for into the middle of things. A story told this way skips the beginning and starts partway through, with the earlier events supplied later. The novel opens with a woman already halfway down a hotel fire escape in her nightdress; how she got there, and who is waiting at the bottom, comes afterwards.

Spelling and pronunciation: medias, not media

The phrase is in medias res. Medias ("middle") agrees with res ("things"), so it cannot be media. The two misspellings that turn up most are in media res, pulled toward the English word media, and in medias race, which is how the last word is often pronounced (roughly in MAY-dee-us RACE). In English prose it is usually set in italics, like other borrowed Latin phrases.

Where it comes from: Horace, Homer and the Odyssey

The phrase comes from Horace's Ars Poetica, his verse letter on the art of poetry. Praising Homer, Horace says he hurries to the outcome and sweeps the listener into the middle of things as if they already knew what came before. The opposite, which Horace says Homer avoids, is starting ab ovo, "from the egg": telling the Trojan War from the egg that Helen was hatched from.

Homer's two epics show the technique in both its forms.

• The Iliad opens in the tenth year of the war, on a quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. Nine years of fighting are simply assumed.
• The Odyssey opens with Odysseus stranded on Calypso's island, most of his voyage home already behind him. The first books follow his son, Telemachus, in Ithaca. The famous adventures, the Cyclops, Circe, the visit to the dead, arrive only later, when Odysseus tells them himself at a feast among the Phaeacians.

That second structure is the full classical version: the start of the story is not the start of the telling, and the past is filled in by a character with a reason to tell it.

In medias res vs a strong opening

Modern usage is often looser. People say in medias res when they mean the first chapter starts at a point of pressure. That is simply a good hook, and it is not quite the same thing. The classical technique moves the timeline: important events have already happened, and the gap gets filled in as the book goes, by flashback, by a character telling it, or by motivated exposition scattered where the reader wants it.

A common screen variant opens on a moment from later in the story and then cuts back. The pilot of Breaking Bad opens with Walter White driving an RV through the desert in his underwear and a gas mask, then jumps back three weeks to show how he got there.

Example: The Runner opens mid-flight

The Runner, a feature screenplay by Jeffrey Doka, the editor behind Final Boss Editing, does not show the deal, the loading of the plane or the take-off. It starts in the air, on the last leg.

EXT. LIGHTLY CLOUDED SKIES - DAY

From the sign, we turn upwards and zip after a small, 80's style Cessna 210 aircraft as it cuts through clouds, clocking it's top speed of 170 knots.

INT. RICH'S CESSNA 210 - COCKPIT - DAY (MOVING)

JAMES

Home stretch, bro! I can already see my new 60 inch 3D plasma screen--mmm. The highest of definitions.

Why it works: "Home stretch" tells the reader the run is nearly over before we know what the run is. The history stays offstage too. On pages 2 and 3 James mentions someone called Michelle, and "recovery", and Rich closes the subject with "You know why." The script does not stop to explain. The reader does not need to know how these two got here, because they can already see what matters: two men who want to land, and by page 3, a second plane's shadow chasing theirs.

How to open in medias res

1. Pick a moment where the pressure is already on. Something is underway and could go wrong.
2. Make the want legible on page one. The reader can wait for backstory. They cannot wait to know what someone is trying to do.
3. Hold the past back until it is wanted. Every earlier event you explain on page two is one the reader was not yet curious about.
4. Decide how the past gets in. A flashback, a confession, a document, an argument. Choose a route with a reason to exist in the scene.

Common mistakes

• Action with strangers. A prologue-sized fight starring people the reader has no reason to care about yet. Starting in the middle only works when the situation is legible: who wants what, and what happens if they fail.
• Starting in the middle, then stopping for a lecture. The dramatic first page is followed by twenty pages of history, which is an info dump with a good opening attached. Let the past arrive in pieces.
• A flash-forward the story takes too long to reach. If the opening moment is from chapter thirty, the reader is waiting for it through twenty-nine chapters. Make sure the story in between earns that wait.
• Confusing the reader instead of intriguing them. A question is a pull; total disorientation is a push. The reader should know where they are and who to watch, even if they do not know why.

Frequently asked questions

What does in medias res mean?

In medias res is Latin for 'into the middle of things'. A story told in medias res starts partway through the events and fills in what came before later, instead of starting at the beginning and moving forward.

Is it in media res or in medias res?

In medias res. Medias is the correct Latin form because it has to agree with res, 'things'. In media res and in medias race are common misspellings, the first probably pulled toward the English word media and the second spelled the way the phrase sounds.

How does the Odyssey use in medias res?

The Odyssey opens with Odysseus stranded on Calypso's island, with most of his voyage home already behind him. The earlier adventures, including the Cyclops and Circe, come later, when Odysseus tells them to the Phaeacians at a feast.

What is the opposite of in medias res?

Starting ab ovo, 'from the egg', meaning at the very beginning of the events. Horace used the phrase when he praised Homer for not starting the Trojan War story from the egg that Helen was born from.