Onomatopoeia, in quotes or not?

[claig]

Hi,

If you wanted to write something like

Tick. It was that damn clock again.

Do you enclose the Tick in double quotes, should you use an exclamation mark, should tick be in italics or is it fine as it is?

I can't find anything on it in New Harts Rules or Fowler's Modern Usage. Can anyone recommend any great British English style guides that cover this sort of thing? Failing that, is the American Chicago Style Manual worth getting hold of?

Personally, I'd put it in quotes, as if it were speech. But I have no idea whether that is the right answer or not.

I wouldn't. It's just a description of a sound, like in the sentence, "There was a sudden crash, followed by a loud bang."

You would only put it in speech marks if someone was actually saying it.

Italics. Put it in italics.

italics yes not quotes

Thanks everybody for the good advice. I'm not too keen on quotes as it is not speech, so am tending towards leaving it as it is or using italics.