Go back? he thought. ‘No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!’ So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter.

– Bilbo Baggins

Notice how Tolkien flips “pitter-patter” in the final line. Small technique for avoiding a cliche.

Sit back and let our favorite retired professor Malcom Guite read the passage to you:

Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Hobbit: 75th Anniversary Edition. United States: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. pp66