Rising Action – Write on the World

The concept of “in medias res” (Latin for “in the midst of things”) in novel writing dates back to ancient Greek and Roman literature. The Roman poet and philosopher Horace wrote about the technique in his Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry), which was published around 18 BCE. In this work, he advised poets to begin their stories in the middle of the action, rather than at the beginning, in order to grab the reader’s attention and create a sense of urgency. As a novel writing technique, in media res also involves beginning a story in the middle of the action, rather than at the beginning, in order to capture the reader’s attention and create a sense of immediacy and urgency.

The Iliad is an early example of a story that began in the middle of the action. Image generated using AI.

One of the earliest examples of in medias res can be found in Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, which begins in the middle of the Trojan War, rather than at the beginning. This technique was also used by other ancient Greek and Roman writers, including Virgil in his epic poem, The Aeneid.

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The Fichtean Curve, also known as the narrative arc or the dramatic arc, is a storytelling model that describes the structure of a story or narrative. While the term “Fichtean curve” is named after Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a German philosopher who was influential in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, it is not clear if Fichte himself originated the idea of the narrative arc (Writing Manuals for the Masses: The Rise of the Literary Advice Industry from Quill to Keyboard, ).

The Fichtean curve is often attributed to the German poet and playwright Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, who was a contemporary of Fichte and a close friend. Schiller was interested in the structure of drama and wrote extensively on the subject, and it is likely that he was the one who popularized the narrative arc as a storytelling model.

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