Denis Johnson is a Poet

And, yes, he is a novelist too. And that is why I turn to his poetry to show the effects of the sounds of words on meaning. You see, if he were only a poet, you might wonder what these techniques had to do with your fiction writing, right? Anything goes in the quest for a cool scene, so prepare to steal a few riffs from poetry. If Denis Johnson does it, it's got to be good.

Here's the deal: different sounds evoke different emotional or symbolic meanings.
Some hiss and sizzle: s, sh, ch ("hiss" and "sizzle" actually sound like they mean, which is known as onomatopoeia, a great word to use in Scrabble)

Some explode or stop you in your tracks: k, t, p, g

Some are smooth: w, m, n, y

Some are fuzzy: th, v, z

Some are slow and sombre: o, oo, uh, ah

Some are quick and sharp: ih, i, eh, ee

Short words are quicker than long words.

Now for the applications (all Denis Johnson):

"a semi-truck against the bruised roses/of sunset/" from Grocery on Venice Beach. (Notice the vowel sounds: ah, eh, ee, ah, uh, oo, o, uh, uh, eh. That's 3 quick vs. 7 slow. Very sombre.)

"a chilly wind was taking/ small sticks and the like down the block" from All-Night Diners
(Notice all the quick vowels, and notice too that the second line has only one-syllable words adding to that sense of little things blowing down the street)

If you haven't read his poetry, you really should. They are skeletons of novels. Try this one: "Our Sadness"

Then go read the comics. You'll need to.