" I have seen once a peasant flogged in the town hall. My father-in-law had sent me to the Mayor of the borough, and when I came there I was surprised to see him — — " The watch-woman began a long story.
And I know I said I love sagas and I love long, you know, long protracted narratives, but I just couldn't really follow it, and I found myself not even caring to follow it.
That's why I told that long story, that when I had to make that decision, it was the first time I had dropped everything conscious and logical from my mind.
There's no expectation that you have a long story prepared and you don't need to worry about having advanced level grammar structures or high level vocabulary.
Then, in 1912, an Italian 2-hour film was hugely successful, and Hollywood settled upon the novel-length narrative that remains the dominant cinematic convention of today.