One of the first lessons I learned as a writer of fiction was the importance of using all five senses in bringing believability and immediacy to my stories. As writers we sometimes fall back on using the same descriptive words over and over instead of striving for new ones. Yet using the perfect word, the unexpected word, can breathe life onto every page.  Over the next five weeks, I’ll be sharing my lists of favorite “sense” words. So,  without further ado, here are some words to help you describe the sense of sound.

Grief or sadness:  bawl, blubber, cry, groan, moan, sob, wail, weep, whimper

Happiness: chuckle, coo, giggle, guffaw, laugh, roar, squeal, whooop

Loud sounds : bang, bellow, blare, clamor, clang,  crash, din, honk, jangle,  hubbub, racket, scream, shout, slam, squawk, trumpet, whistle,  yell

Soft sounds: burble, chirp, creak, croon, gurgle, hum, hush, lisp, mute, murmur, patter, purr, shush, snuffle, warble, whisper

Musical sounds: chime, drum, gong, hum, jingle, peal, singsong, toot,  trill, tune, yodel

Sounds of nature:  buzz, bark, bay, bleat, caw, cheep, chirp, cluck,  hiss, hoot, howl, neigh, screech, twitter, whinny, yelp, yowl

I hope this is helpful. I’m sure you can add more of your own favorites to this list.

Next week: The Sense of Sight.

Happy writing, all!