Let's start in the middle (of things)

In the beginning was the word. In the middle was the story. Many ancient epic poems are known to begin in the middle of things, in medias res. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid all begin 'into the thickst' (Thomas Drant), at a point in the narrative where things had already moved significantly from the beginning. The beginning of the story gets…