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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/20812
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/20812
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I don't think in medias res should necessarily be understood as jumping into the middle of the story. I think we should look at it more as a story is embedded in a history. You may need to understand the history in order to understand the story, but the story itself -- the character's moral arc -- does not begin at the beginning of the history. So you start where the story begins, but at some point you have to go fill in the parts of the history necessary to understand the story.

If we look at it this way, we realize that the idea that the opening in medias res "hooks" the reader hard enough that they will then plow through pages and pages of background stuff that they would not otherwise read because they are desperate to get back to the action probably does not hold up. A story should follow its story arc. Background should come in only to the extent that the reader demands to know it in order to comprehend what it going on in the story.

There are clearly exceptions to this. Sometimes you get a "how did things end up like this" story, particularly in long running TV shows where we already know the characters. But overall I believe in medias res is not starting the story in the middle, but starting it where the story starts and filling in background later when it is essential.

Original score: 4