I saw this website called The Written Word on social media recently and bookmarked it to look at later. Glad I did. It’s an onomatopeia dictionary. I had no idea I needed one, but clearly I do. What a fun, handy site.
Onomatopeia is a word formed by imitating the sound or action something makes. Think hiss, buzz, boom, argh, bay, arf, cackle, drone, splat, clink, etc. As writers, we strive to have readers experience our stories as if they are actually there. We do this with creative uses of words. The sounds some words make aid in visualizing what’s happening. Such as a cat caterwauling just before its lightsaber ignites with a pssshhew and engages in battle. Ffffkrrrrshhzzzwooooom..woom..woooom!