Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Quality examples of 'in medias res' starting sequences in SF literature

You can find my initial trials here, and, based on feedback, version two here. I was trying to create a sort of 'flashforward' opening (please don't cite Sawyer) for a novel. That is: of the 45 ch...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Mussri‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:07:13Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/4706
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Mussri‭ · 2019-12-08T02:07:13Z (about 5 years ago)
You can find my initial trials [here](https://writers.stackexchange.com/revisions/4513/1), and, based on feedback, version two [here.](https://writers.stackexchange.com/revisions/4663/12)

I was trying to create a sort of 'flashforward' opening (please don't cite Sawyer) for a novel. That is: of the 45 chapters being edited for the novel, the paragraphs linked to are the zero chapter. They'll be available again in chapter 44 followed by the recap and the cliffhanger for the next book in the serial. I later found it was called _in medias res_ but that didn't help me find _quality_ examples. Especially ones that'd work with a Hard SF novel.

According to that, what examples would you cite for this kind of effect? Having a scene from the ending be the Prelude sequence and everything told from the point it started until it lead to the Prelude.

_Edit:_ I want quality examples of this, preferably by reputable writers. I want the advice for writing long novels; neither novelettes nor TV shows. Yes it's an old and possibly tired technique but I asking for the right way to do it.

If you couldn't grasp this, think of Nolan's Inception.

And if possible, cite older (out of copyright) titles so that I can get them from Project Gutenberg. I may already have some modern titles you may give as examples, but I seriously doubt it. If you can include the excerpt of the text you meant, that'd solve it.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-12-29T13:03:31Z (almost 13 years ago)
Original score: 1