En Media Res - Explained

Definition

En Media Res (more properly “IN media res”) - “In the middle of things”.

A very valuable tool for writers, but one that’s often misused (in my opinion).

Let’s take, for example, a simple scene somewhere in a novel. We know where the characters enter the scene, but we’re not entirely sure where we should start writing.

The Scene Outline

Character enters bar, which is nearly empty because it’s early afternoon, so it’s really only filled with the hard-core drinkers, who huddle at the bar like ticks in a coon dog’s ear, morosely daring character to make something of it. Description of ambiance goes here, including the smoggy cigarette atmosphere and the sound of the kitchen help arguing in rapid-fire Spanish when the kitchen doors swing open.
Character walks to the bar, sits down, and orders a screwdriver without the screw.  Possibly thinks about Important Plot Point while waiting impatiently for PlotPants the Snitch to arrive and reveal important Plot Information.
PlotPants arrives, wearing a tattered newsboy cap pulled low over his brow, as if that didn’t make him look even more suspicious than if he’d walked up confidently.
PlotPants sits down next to Character and orders a drink. The most expensive whiskey on the menu, because he knows Character will pick up the tab.
PlotPants and Character chat a little, with PlotPants being cagey about his information. Just as he reaches into his jacket to pull out a manila envelope (the real reason Character even puts up with him), a neat hole appears in his forehead, and a much less neat hole appears on the back of his head.
PlotPants falls backward off his chair and starts ruining  a very expensive rug.
Character grabs the envelope and makes a break for it, exiting the scene through the kitchen door and apologizing in fluent Spanish to the workers for interrupting their work.

The Beginning

A lot of beginner writers start at the beginning because it makes sense. These are the things that happened in their imagination as they worked through the character and scene.

However…

That scene (like most scenes) is frontloaded with what I call “puppetry and set”. Start writing there, and it takes you halfway through the scene before anything INTERESTING and IMPORTANT happens!

I may need to know what the set looks like … but I don’t need to know every detail, and I certainly don’t need to be treated to paragraphs-worth of set up for a bar I spend all of one scene in.

Starting at the beginning is a great way to bore the heck out of me.

Okay, So, The Gunshot!

Right! I complained about the beginning because it wasn’t the interesting bit, right? That gunshot sure was interesting! Maybe we should start there!

Hold your horses, pardner.

That gunshot? That’s the CLIMAX of this scene. Much like every book has a tension arc, every chapter and scene should ALSO have a tension arc. You don’t start the book with the hero facing down the villain in their evil lair, do you? Of course not. The reader doesn’t have a reason to care what’s happening.

A lot of novels start “en media res” in the middle of a battle or gunfight or chase scene or argument. This is a great way to start “with a bang” so to speak, and removes the “puppetry and set” that gets so tiring to read … but it’s also a pretty tricky thing to pull off because without ANY kind of lead-in to the giant action, you’ve removed the chance for your readers to really CARE about those characters.

Start this scene with the gunshot, and I don’t really care about the victim, and I”m not entirely sure what’s going on for the rest of the scene or why I should care.

You started too late.

So WHERE then, Miss Smartypants?!

This, I’d actually love it if you’d give me your opinions in the comments, because there are multiple places that you could start the scene “en media res” (in the middle of things) while still maintaining the tension arc.

Me?

I’d start with PlotPants ordering his drink, especially if I was writing in first person. Why? I dunno. That’s where my inner author/artist is sniffing out the best timing. That gives me just enough time to note the surroundings and react to the slimy PlotPants character without wasting a lot of time detailing my character’s stroll across the carpet and ordering of a drink.

En Media Res

That’s the “trick” to using en media res. You skip the stuff everybody skims anyway, and find the right place to drop us into a scene.

Edit: Before this posted but after I scheduled the draft, Chuck Wendig (he of the inspiration and potty-mouth) did a fantastic piece on basically the same concept. Language warning as always, but definitely worth a read if you’ve got the time.

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