Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Writing Wednesday

Hi everyone, Wednesday is here again. Summer is flying by. 

First off, I have found a few places you might like to visit. And, you do not have to leave your nice air conditioned house to go to them!

A few Wednesday's ago I interviewed author, Pam Hanson. Everyone can visit here and like her author page on Facebook. Her latest book, Faith, Fireworks and Fir, is available at Amazon as an e-book.

There is a neat writing contest on Cactus Country blog site. Go check it out and see if you would be interested in entering it.

And, I just found out about Writeoncon. They are having a free online writer's conference. You might want to go check out their site.

Here is another good place to go. As a guest, you can copy and paste up to three passages of your manuscript in every 24 hour period for a free critique. I've been visiting there and it is helping me weed out some of my mistakes in my manuscript.

I love using onomatopoeia [on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh] words in my writing. I'm a children's writer, so I might get to have fun with these words a little more often than writers of other genres. But everyone uses these words in their writing. They are a class of words that have developed from the mimicking of sounds in our environment.

We have animal or machine noises, body function noises, fast motion noises,  musical noises, cooking or eating noises and fighting noises.You might call them the special effects of our stories. Use them sparingly and they can perk up your writing.


Edgar Allen Poe used onomatopoeia in his poem, The Raven.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."

Here is another example:

"He saw nothing and heard nothing but he could feel his heart pounding and then he heard the clack on stone and the leaping, dropping clicks of a small rock falling. " (Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls)

Here is a great onomatopoeia site, it even has a Hangman Game you can play.

Enjoy yourself. Have fun with writing.
 

8 comments:

  1. Thank you Janet for the info. I need all I can get. Hope you have a nice Wednesday..Susie

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  2. I love this post. I like using sounds, too. Great links!

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  3. Thanks for the links! Mmmm, that O word is awesome. If only I could spell it. LOL

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  4. Thanks Janet! And we were just talking about onmon...that word...at the dinner table last night!

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  5. Hi Janet,
    Great post! Thanks for all the good information and examples of onomoatopoeias.
    Donna

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  6. Thanks for all the links :-)

    Have a great week

    ~Ron

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  7. Hi Janet! I'm going to check out those sites, thanks for the tips. I hope you are having a nice afternoon. It was 104 today and I have been moving slow trying to keep cool in this southern humidity! It is like walking in a steam bath. But at the same time it makes the air feel very soft. Last night I waited until it cooled down a bit and made two fresh peach pies. (Another nice perk about living in Georgia! It makes up for the heat.) :) Have a wonderful afternoon ahead! Delisa :)

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  8. Hi Janet, thanks for all the great links! I think my daughter has put in bits of her manuscript at the one you mentioned.

    Happy writing!

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