alt Hacker NewsCf. Vonnegut's rule #4 of good writing:
> Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
Or Quintilian's praise of Demosthenes and Cicero: "To Demosthenes nothing can be added, but from Cicero nothing can be taken away."
Is there no room for describing the setting? Must every utterance that sets the atmosphere also advance the plot or reveal character? Is there no room for mood?