In today’s Journal
* Beginning In Media Res
* The Numbers
Beginning In Media Res
This is a topic I posted only for my Patreon followers way back in the day. I haven’t had a Patreon account for a very long time, so a lot of folks haven’t seen this. Lucky you, eh? (grin)
Show of hands—
How many of you have heard you should always start your fiction in the middle of the action (in media res) and then go back and explain what’s going on later?
I have. And it’s a myth.
A few days before I posted this topic (so years ago), I thought starting in the middle of the action was good advice, and on the surface, it sounds like it is.
But it isn’t.
What you want to do is make the reader FEEL as if the story starts in the middle of the action.
How do you do that? By grounding the reader in the story. Pulling him into the scene. The same old thing I’ve been preaching all along.
You invest 300 to 400 words (or depending on the story, much, much more) in describing the POV character and the setting. This is the story “opening.”
The opening results in the reader caring about the character and being able to see, hear, smell, taste and touch the setting. In some stories, the reader will even have an emotional reaction (joy, fear, trepidation, nostalgia, etc.) to the setting.
In other words, the opening engages the reader on every possible physical and emotional level. That’s how you pull the reader down into the story.
I’ve talked at length about the importance of starting a story with a good opening.
As a reminder, all you need as a story starter is a character with a problem in a setting. And the problem doesn’t have to be “the” problem of the story. Character + problem + setting is only a story starter, something to get you to the keyboard and get you started typing.
Some major (Stage 4 and 5) writers like King, Kuntz, Oates, Burke, and others can hold a reader through an entire first chapter or two (say up to 1500 words or more) before any real action begins, yet their books SEEM to begin in the middle of the action.
But NONE of them actually do. Every one of them begin by grounding the reader, pulling the reader into the story so the reader is invested in the character and the story.
Case in point—
Say you have a character (Harold or Mildred Johnson, a business person or PI or whatever else) who’s leaving his or her home to go to work.
As s/he opens the door, there’s an explosion and splinters fly away from the wooden door frame next to his head.
That would be starting in the middle of the action.
But what do I, the reader, care? I don’t know the character. I can’t even see his face or what he’s wearing. I can’t see the front of the house (except I know the doorframe is wood instead of plaster or brick).
So back up about 4 seconds, or 10 seconds, or a minute, or a half-hour. What happened just before the character opens the door? Let the reader see that. Let the reader into the character’s world.
That’s where the “problem” in the equation character + problem + setting comes in. Maybe the character notices a shoelace is untied as s/he’s about to leave for work.
And say s/he’s in a setting (like maybe the living room just before s/he reaches for the door knob).
Is s/he naked? Probably not. So describe the character.
This doesn’t have to be in-depth, but enough so the reader gets a good sense of who the character is. Enough to put a picture of the character in the reader’s mind.
Is the living room a blank white space?
Probably not. So describe the pertinent parts of the living room. Maybe the briefcase is sitting next to the front door. Maybe it’s in his/her hand and s/he sets it on the carpet next to the recliner, which is next to the front door, as s/he bends or kneels to tie the shoelace.
Or maybe introduce the problem later.
Maybe the character picks up the briefcase, opens the door and steps out onto the stoop or porch. Maybe s/he takes a deep breath, notes it’s a beautiful, clear day (or a drizzly, cloudy, or misty/rainy day or snow is falling).
Maybe the maple (ash, whatever) tree growing in the front yard has some sort of strange orange growth on it.
Maybe s/he then notices an odd feeling in his/her left shoe and looks down to see the untied shoelace.
Then, after you’ve added the character description and setting description, the action begins.
Maybe as s/she bends to tie the shoelace, THEN there’s an explosion and wood splinters fly from the doorframe over the character’s head.
But don’t take my word for any of this.
Pick any book you’ve read before by any Stage 4 or 5 writer. Pick one that you thought started with action, and read the opening for yourself.
Did it really start with action, or did the writer describe the character and set the scene first?
If you aren’t used to writing the way that writer writes, and if you like what you’ve read, there’s also an exercise you can do for practice.
When you find an opening (or any passage as you’re reading for pleasure) that blows you away, take the time to type it in.
Yeah, word for word.
Of course, you aren’t going to sell it as your own.
But typing the passage will give your creative subconscious lessons on setting, character description, pacing and a lot more. Things you aren’t even consciously aware of.
Here’s another exercise you can do. I did this one a lot myself back in the day.
Read a short story or novel, one you really like, but you aren’t wild about the ending.
Type the story in. Or at least type in the part that leads up to the ending (to get the rhythm of the writing).
And when you reach the blank space, the place where the original ending starts, type your own ending to the story.
If a temperamental poet is the POV character and at the end of the story she fills the pockets of her heavy coat with rocks and walks into the sea to “end it all,” maybe put a fisherman out there with a boat.
Maybe he pulls the writer on board, flushes the water out of her lungs, deep-sixes the rocks from her pockets, and saves her life.
Maybe she’s chapped at his chutzpah and they argue.
Or maybe she’d already changed her mind about ending it all but was too weak to swim back to shore. So maybe she’s grateful. Maybe, even, the whole thing was fate.
Either way, she and the fisherman have a future together, be it short or long. Let the “new” story run until it ends.
One thing is certain. Something in the fisherman’s past is relevant and will help the writer. If it wasn’t he wouldn’t have puller her out of the water. Etc. etc. etc.
Go write.
Talk with you again soon.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 1210
Writing of Stern Talbot: The Origin Story
Day 1…… 4327 words. To date…… 4327
Day 2…… 3822 words. To date…… 8149
Day 3…… 3250 words. To date…… 11399
Day 4…… 3531 words. To date…… 14930
Day 5…… 1376 words. To date…… 16306
Day 6…… 3454 words. To date…… 19760
Fiction for September…………………….. 74671
Fiction for 2024………………………….… 721218
Fiction since October 1…………………… 855209
Nonfiction for September………………… 24690
Nonfiction for 2024……………………….. 299530
2024 consumable words…………………. 854932
Average Fiction WPD (September)……… 2987
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 13
2024 Novellas to Date……………………. 0
2024 Short Stories to Date………………. 14
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 95
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………. 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………. 251
Short story collections……………………. 29
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer, but please try this at home. You can do it. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies. They will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
Please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. You may click the Subscribe or Update button below, or you may click Donate Here and set up a recurring donation of $5 per month OR make a one-time (annual) donation of $60 via PayPal. Thank you!