The Onomatopoeia...

This is a writing 'device' used to place words into a sentence that sound like the word itself. Words such as thunk, flap, drip, flush, etc..

Using this in your writing is a matter of preference. You like it or you do not.

I'll have to wait and see what I find in the fantasy fiction literature to explain this concept more concretely. Granted, I could just copy some text from an elementary school teacher's lesson plan. But...that would not be adequate.

For further reading:

• Definition
• Onomatopoeia or Overwhelming Writing Devices
• The Sound of One Knife Stabbing
• Use onomatopoeia to make your writing pop
• Why Most Attempts and Onomatopoeia Fail
• Fantasy Writers: Forum Discussion

Below you will find some examples of alliteration from my favorite fantasy fiction stories. To help out I have highlighted some of the similar sounds to help identify the alliteration within the writing.

"I have seen a rumor born swathed in snug mystery left lying under the sun in the hills of the Gadrobi where the sheep have scattered on wolf-laden winds and the shepherds have fled a whispering of sands and it blinked in the glare a heart hardened into stone while the shadow of the Gates of Nowhere crept 'cross the drifting dust of home I have seen this rumor born a hundred thousand hunters of the heart in a city bathed in blue light..."
-P.538 Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson

Below are some examples of personification:

"Despair, he told himself, always demands a direction, a focus."
-P.285 Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson

This post, like others, it to further illustrate figurative language. Below are examples of similes from my favorite books.

"He listened to her soft, regular breathing behind him-like the breath of a dragon-he was certain he could feel it gusting against the back of his neck."
--P.327 Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson 

"Gaborn watched the girls drift by, feeling that their beauty was as stunning as that of larks in flight, knowing he would never forget their smiles."
-- P.41-42, Runelords, David Farland

""Because you are young, you value men based upon their insights into the human heart, Your Lordship." This statement struck Gaborn like a blast of air off a frozen lake. It was stunning, refreshingly honest, and, of course, obviously true."

-- P. 141, Runelords, David Farland

"Dozens of Raj Ahten's legendary Invincibles had followed Borenson's men into the woods, and the Invincibles were now so full of arrows that their corpses looked as prickly as hedgehogs."

-- P.600, Runelords, David Farland 

 "The rain, like icy needles, lashed at my unprotected face and head, since I hadn't bothered with the cloak's hood."
--P.159, Magic of Recluse, L.E. Modesitt Jr. 

• Alliteration Defined
• Rules for Alliteration
• Sound Sound Sound
• What is Alliteration