“One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.”
— Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Technique
In Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka uses the in media res technique to put readers in the middle of the story at the start, forcing them to engage with the text immediately.
Readers aren’t provided context as to why Gregor Samsa has had troubled dreams or transformed into a vermin, forcing them to keep reading for more information.
Use
- Open your story in the middle of a scene, when there’s not yet contextual information provided and the conclusion isn’t available either. Work backwards to provide context, creating a backstory that readers can piece together.
The Periplous 