I have been writing posts on figurative language. I felt that it would be appropriate to clarify a distinction of the two terms: Figurative Language and Figure of Speech.

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