Laurie J. Marks

The Light Fantastic

On Reading and Writing Fantasy


  • Action!  Inaction!

    Action! Inaction!

    Every sentence begins with a stressed syllable, mostly alternating stressed and unstressed: DUH duh. DUH duh. (Yep, trochaic rhythm.)  I’m trying to make you feel how Painter receives a bit of input, then struggles to process it: Darkness.  (Where?) Desperate coughing.  (Huh?)  Thunderous pounding.  “What?”