Onomatopoeia and caps lock

J.D.Rajotte

J.D.Rajotte

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So here's a dual parts question. When it comes to your use of either onomatopoeia or CAPS LOCK to convey a sound or the volume of such sound (e.g. someone yelling); how much is too much? And at what point does it become distracting to the reader? In my new book, "Ballad of the Hired Blades: The Deadly Exam" I found that I frequently used onomatopoeia within asterisks to convey a sound, and caps lock if needed to amplify the perceived volume of such.

Example: Jenny dropped her half-full mug of frothy mead at the mention of her father's demise. *Crash* *Sploosh* The hefty ceramic mug smacks the ground, pouring its contents all over the floor in a golden puddle. "GOD! NO! WHY GOD, WHY?!?!" Exclaimed a frantic Jenny, shaking her head vigorously and falling to her knees in disbelief. She begins to rain a barrage of hammer fists onto the oaken floorboards in a fit of rage. *SMASH* *SMASH* *SMASH* I told him NEVER to go into the Haunted woods! NEVER!!!

Just curious. Thoughts on whether it looks cheesy, amateur, or maybe overall distracting? Or does it help the reader picture the scene as it takes place? Thanks yall!
 
Personally I've only ever seen sound effects spelled out like that in comic books and graphic novels.

Most How-to writing books I've read recommend strongly against the overuse of exclamation points and things like italics, all caps, bold, etc. The reason is because when such typographical conventions are used too frequently, they lose their ability to emphasize the word.
 
There is always a gray area between creating one's own style and following convention.

For me, I will use onomatopoeia very rarely for a sudden sound coming from outside the field of view of the POV character that startles the character. I will put the sound in its own paragraph and I have tried both using italics and using regular font (I try to minimize my use of italics).

For volume, I find that a leading dialog tag is sufficient:
Bill yelled, "Look out!"​

For emphasized words, I typically see them italicized, though I have not used this technique myself (I find the word emphasis is really not that important to the reader):
Carol asked, "Is that what you really want?"​

The only places I have seen asterisks used are in blog posts and comments on sites where text formatting is not supported. If formatting is available on the site, I use bold to emphasize a specific word or phrase (some sites automatically convert from asterisks to bold).
Asterisks are for *optional* use.​

My suggestion is to do some reading in one's target genre and context and follow the common formatting rules. I find it best to avoid distracting the reader with unusual or unexpected formatting choices. I have read some stories where the authors chose to use unique formatting style choices and I felt it distracted from the story rather than augment it. In the end, though, formatting rules are the author's choice. Do what feels best for you.
 
I've never used cap lock.
Quite fond of italic to emphasise a word.
Sparse with exclamation marks.
I don't think I have used "Peter exclaimed". It would sound like something out of "Famous Five go on a Treasure Hunt." :)
 
I wouldn't use the asterisks. Ever. That said, I'm bound to write something tomorrow where it will seem like the right answer, but only for something special and specific, not dotted all over the manuscript.

I use italics quite a bit for emphasis, and I might use caps for extra emphasis but with extreme caution. Caps should feel like something you have to buy in very small, very expensive packs so you only use them when absolutely nothing else will do the job. Perhaps think of caps as literary saffron?

I seem to recall that Julian May used them in some of the Marc Remillard scenes in the Saga of the Exiles, but sparingly. Probably no more than a few pages with caps in a very thick paperback, and very much to emphasise something extreme.
 
I wouldn't use any of them. I don't think they're necessary. Italics are fine, used sparingly.
 
I've always remembered the advice I got from one of my history profs in grad school: don't use typography to make your point. Use words.

That was good advice in academic writing, but I think it serves even better in fiction writing. As with all advice, I haven't always followed it, but it does at least make me stop and see if I cannot find a better way to convey the emotion, the moment, even the sound, the particular sentence is trying to convey.

I wouldn't say using typography is lazy, not knowing the author; same for juvenile. But I can say that only a few doses of me will put me off a story; which, despite not knowing the author, I'm fairly sure is not the author's goal.
 
For my tastes, speech in all caps for LOUDNESS works far better in comedy than "serious" writing, and should still be used sparingly. Even once per page can feel like a lot. Single-word bursts of onomatopoeia rarely work in prose - it's more of a comics effect. Better to work the onomatopoeia into a complete sentence.
 
What @Harpo and @Fiberglass Cyborg stated for comedic effect. Otherwise for serious writing, nope. I go along with everyone else.

"They heard a loud BANG down the corridor." (Too visual for me to think of it as a sound.)
Or
"They heard a loud Bang echoing down the corridor, fading off into the distance." (I can hear this in my head, and I can relate to this too.):)
 
I use italics for onomatopoeia. For yelling, I tend to do the same thing. I've seen J.K. Rowling use all caps for yelling, though. I don't use more than one symbol. "?!" just seems like overkill to me.
 
Guttersnipe said:
I use italics for onomatopoeia. For yelling, I tend to do the same thing. I've seen J.K. Rowling use all caps for yelling, though. I don't use more than one symbol. "?!" just seems like overkill to me.
Click to expand...
You have to be careful with interrobangs… but sometimes they’re the only thing that’ll fit.

As far as all the other stuff goes; italics are enough. I’d use caps for someone shouting (very rarely) but onomatopoeia… very tricky. I have a line in my latest wip:

‘…the whiiiing of a sprint buggy aiming for LEO’

That’s about as adventurous as I get ;)
 
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