I think sounds can be one of the most frustrating things for me to write into my books.  Take Ooo for example.  I have a character that says something like “Oooo, what a pretty sweater!”  So how do you write Ooo.  The sound is like how you pronounce “you” without the “y” and rhymes with pew, dew, moo and boo.  When I threw the question out to friends on Facebook, as I often do with such puzzling questions, I got back responses of Ooo or Ew.  In the end, I went with Ooo because although Ew might be just as correct, it looked too much like “Ew, what’s that horrible smell,” to me.  Ew as a sound seems more nasally with a negative connotation.

Yes, this is what I’m pondering in the wee hours of the morning …. Sad, no?

Another one that took some time to conclude was Uh-oh.  In a sentence this would be something like “Uh-oh, you’re in trouble again.”  I asked a dozen friends and got a dozen answers on this sound question.

Another is the sound Hummm.  This one is like you’re taking a moment to ponder something.  “Humm … I’m not sure which gun to use.”  When I asked the friends, they fell into one of two camps.  The “Humm”s and the “Hmmm”s.  That’s with or without the U.  In the end I chose the U.  I just thought it looked cleaner.

Other sounds we have to write are “Huh?” as in the answer to a question, but you never really heard the question to begin with.

This one goes hand in hand with “Uh- huh” which would be a positive response to a question.