Fascinating! My first “thought” on reading the description was that I see the golden background around the olive-skinned man, like on an old painting, and I know how his body is tilted. Then, “there’s an assassin”. What? :) I mean, sure he’s an assassin, but let’s not be hasty here :)
And this reminds me of how some writers compress visual imagery. Pratchett’s “complex interplay of forces” (when a man throws a dagger, I think in the beginning of “The Pyramids”) really did a lot for me. It’s the successional character of the movement, half-conscious but ever so controlled, so living-muscle, which draws the attention very tightly and maybe makes imagination cheaper in the process.
Fascinating! My first “thought” on reading the description was that I see the golden background around the olive-skinned man, like on an old painting, and I know how his body is tilted. Then, “there’s an assassin”. What? :) I mean, sure he’s an assassin, but let’s not be hasty here :)
And this reminds me of how some writers compress visual imagery. Pratchett’s “complex interplay of forces” (when a man throws a dagger, I think in the beginning of “The Pyramids”) really did a lot for me. It’s the successional character of the movement, half-conscious but ever so controlled, so living-muscle, which draws the attention very tightly and maybe makes imagination cheaper in the process.