Muddyass ribalds

in medias res (latin) in the middle of things. A description of one of the ways of starting an epic work, in the middle of things. Both the Iliad and the Odyssey start this way. In the Iliad, we are in the ninth year of the seige of Troy before later chapters tell how the war began with the abduction of Helen. In the Odyssey we open with Odysseus on Calypso's isle before he later tells us how the story began when he meets hospitable friends.