What is it called when novels don't start at the beginning of the storyline?
Reef, by Romesh Gunesekera, essentially starts in the middle of the character storyline - what is the literary term name for this?
Solution 1:
There's a term borrowed from Latin for this: in medias res
in or into the middle of a narrative or plot
(source: Merriam Webster)
Literally translated, it means "into the middle of things".
It's quite old; according to Wikipedia, it was first used by the Roman poet Horatius more than two millennia ago. But it is well understood within the context of literature, and used for books as well for performances.