In the Writer's Portable Mentor(WPM), author Priscilla Long gave many examples of words that have high frequency sounds associated with high energy words and low frequency sounds associated with low frequency words. In Dylan Thomas' poem, the words "Rage, rage against the dying of the light' are words that emit high energy. Low frequency words, like bone and moan bring us down. High frequency words like scream and bee, have high energy connected to them.

There are also ways to rhyme without actually writing a poem. This again is connected to sounds. For example, blue/shoe, and then adding the words home (which Ms. Long calls 'slant rhyming') and change/orange, with orange as the slant rhyme. Making sounds with your writing whether consciously or unconsciously is the difference between writing that sings and writing that is flat.

Priscilla Long talks about verbs that carry action, the story, character, feeling, a sense of doom, and a sense of hope. Adverbs, on the other hand, modify verbs. Consider, for example, the two sentences and decide which is the more descriptive - "she ate her soup noisily" or "she slurped her soup."
As Ms. Long suggests, "Don't forget truth and don't forget accuracy...don't forget image, eschew adjectives...adore verbs and nouns. Keep it simple. Omit needless words."