Grammar Gadgets™
Issue 9
This post is part of the Grammar Gadgets™ series, a collection of in-depth studies of literary devices, aka figures of speech. Since so many of these expressions are very similar to one another, this series will focus on one device at a time, showing a clearer picture of each. These analyses aim to answer when, where, and how the tool is used, as well as giving examples from popular literature and film.
Grammar Gadgets™ Issue 9:
In Medias Res—the Writing Technique That Starts in the Middle
How does this sound?
Every day you go to work and put in your 8-12 hours. They are long, boring, sometimes brutal blocks of time in our lives. What if you had the opportunity to cut those blocks in half, and transfer that time to another area of your life? Say, for instance, family. Add 4-6 hours a day spending time with your spouse or kids. Or, maybe you don't have enough quality gaming time in your life. This technique can transfer up to 40 hours a week from your dull job to something fun in your life, like your hobbies, or writing your novel.
That's right ladies and gentlemen, in medias res inserts you directly into your daily job right after lunch. You only work four hours, in which time, you catch up on the morning's work along with the afternoon work. By 5:00, everything has come together to form a simple, efficient, productive conclusion, and you go home.
I think that sounds great! Start every workday in the middle of the shift. Heck yeah!
Unfortunately, in medias res is not a technique used in real life, but one used by writers to strengthen their story, engage the reader, and numerous other situations, some of which we will go over in this issue.
What is in medias res
In Medias Res: The Writing Technique That Starts in the Middle
Picture this: A man dangles from a cliff edge, his fingers slowly slipping. You have no idea who he is or how he got there, but you're already hooked. That's in medias res at work.
Latin for "into the middle of things," in medias res is more than just a fancy literary term – it's storytelling dynamite. Instead of starting at the beginning, you throw your audience straight into the action, right in the thick of things. No lengthy introductions, no "once upon a time," just pure, unfiltered drama.
Examples From Books and Film
Homer knew what he was doing when he kicked off The Odyssey with Odysseus stuck on Calypso's island, rather than boring us with the whole Trojan War setup. Modern storytellers are just as savvy. Think about Breaking Bad opening with Walter White racing through the desert in his underwear, or Fight Club starting at the end with a gun in the narrator's mouth. Now, I'll admit, I used ai, specifically Writesonic, to come up with those three examples, but what about The Matrix? Come to think of it, what about almost every action, mystery, or thriller these days?
When to Employ the Technique and How to Use It
But here's the thing about in medias res – it's not just about starting with action. It's about trust. You're asking your audience to jump into the deep end with you, promising that all those nagging questions will be answered if they just keep swimming. When it works, it's magic. When it doesn't, well, you've got a confused audience checking their phones.
The real art lies in knowing what to reveal and what to hold back. Drop too many breadcrumbs, and you kill the mystery. Drop too few, and you lose your audience. It's like telling a joke – timing is everything.
So next time you're watching a show that opens with an explosion, or reading a book that starts with "The second time I died was even worse than the first," you'll know what's happening. You're not just starting a story – you're diving into the middle of one. And isn't that where all the good stuff happens anyway?
Conclusion
Just a funny note to end this post: I always check my work for plagiarism, because even though I don't do it intentionally, coincidences happen. Well, when I ran this post through the Duplichecker plagiarism checker, which is FREE by the way, it came back 86% original work. That's not good enough for my standards, so I check to see what I copied unknowingly. Funny thing — it was my own post. That was kinda cool seeing that.
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