: Re: Is it stylistically sound to use onomatopoeic words? I'm writing a non-comedic fantasy novel, and I find myself using onomatopoeic words, like "SLAM!" and "TWISH" (for the shooting of arrows).

Fair warning: as a reader I have a pet peeve about onomatopoeia; I dislike it intensely as it tends to break my flow when reading. This is usually when non-word syllable strings are used rather than proper words but my aggravation carries over to all forms.

You can use onomatopoeia in any genre - at least you certainly can if you're using a first person narrative; I'm not completely sure about third person, but I wouldn't. In first person you're describing the experience of the narrator so onomatopoeic language is an appropriate mechanism. However onomatopoeia does not translate well, if at all, across people and cultures: what one person thinks the word "twish" sounds like is not the same as another. Nor in fact is one person's experience of what an arrow sounds like going past going to match that of any other particular person.

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: Re: Is it stylistically sound to use onomatopoeic words? I'm writing a non-comedic fantasy novel, and I find myself using onomatopoeic words, like "SLAM!" and "TWISH" (for the shooting of arrows).

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