"Narrative runs from its words, and it does so in two directions: first it leaves the word for the actions and events—the words, it believes, are there to designate; second it looks forward to the words (and events) that are about to arrive. It does not like to dally over a meal; it bolts its food: salad only delays the steak that may itself be valued principally because its final swallow signals the onset of dessert."

—William Gass,
"Narrative Sentences"