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Are There Birds in Your Book?

christineplouvier's avatarIRISH FIREBRANDS: A Novel ~ and Other Works by Christine Plouvier, Indie Author

One of the many varieties of plover.

Perhaps there’s a setting or a scene that you want to help your reader to hear: instead of just listing the names of birds that may be present, why not describe and/or phoneticize the bird songs or calls?

An adventure story which takes place outdoors is a natural setting for evoking environmental sound effects, but even a contemporary story in a small town setting can include a description of bird vocalizations. In this simple but alliterative description in the beginning scene of a chapter, the noise made by the birds is contrasted with the mindset of the character:

STRIDENT sparrows quarrelled on the windowsill, but as Dillon listened, serenity suffused his soul.
~ Irish Firebrands, Chapter 19

Phoneticized bird vocalizations (also called mnemonics) just means using onomatopoeia to represent sounds as words. These websites provide good examples:

http://fsc.fernbank.edu/Birding/mnemonics.htm

https://web.stanford.edu/~kendric/birds/birdsong.html

The explanation below includes…

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About The Owl Lady

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Viv Drewa is a Michigan native who has enjoyed reading and writing since 1963. Though she studied medicinal chemistry at the University of Michigan, her passion has always been writing. She had been awarded third place for her nonfiction short story about her grandfather's escape from Poland. Later, she rewrote this story and was published in the "Polish American Journal" as "From the Pages of Grandfather's Life" and has republished it on Amazon.com as a short story. Viv took creative and journalism courses to help in her transition to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer. She worked as an intern for Port Huron's 'The Times Herald", and also wrote, edited and did the layout or the Blue Water Multiple Sclerosis newsletter "Thumb Prints." She also has a business promoting authors. Owl and Pussycat Book Promotions. Viv, her husband Bob and their cat Princess, live in Port Huron, Michigan.

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