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Find Inspiration in unusual places--keep your writing unique and interesting.
Create a great settings: The Devil is in the Details
General Tips
Ground your reader by avoiding anonymous settings.Every bar, classroom, bedroom, forest has something about it that is unique. You don't need to spend paragraphs on describing a bedroom--but include a few "stand out" details that will make that room different from all the others. BONUS POINTS if those "stand out" details add to characters or plot.
Example: Your character is depressed because she had to move and change schools. Again. So, she does not hang any posters or pictures. To communicate this and describe her bedroom, you could write: "Her walls are as bare and empty as she feels."
If you are in recognizable place, such as New York City, Hawaii or Alaska, you need to do some research. Strive to be authentic. A reader who has been there (or lives there), should feel comfortable in recognizing the weather at that time of the year. The way people talk, dress and interact with each will be different on a Hawaiian Island verses New York City.
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If a reader has not been to place where your story is set, you want them to feel like they "know what it's like to be there". That's one of the joys of reading--discovering new and exciting places!
Don't forget the "other senses!" Yes, we are a very visual society and what we see is important, but so is what we hear, taste, smell and touch. I read an excellent book All the Light You Cannot See and one on the main characters was blind. It was fascinating to read the descriptions from this character's P.O.V..
Ideas:
From time to time, Pretend your character is blind or deaf.. What would your character focus on when he/she walked into a room?
When you are in a place, especially if it is similar to a setting you are writing about, pay attention to what you hear, smell, taste and touch.
Descriptive Writing and the Five Senses.
The tiny red crabs crawling across black rocks. (sight)
Wood burning in the fire pit (smell).
The faint taste of salt on the breeze (taste).
Flies buzzing around seaweed (sound).
Sand crunching between your toes (feel/touch).
A Breakdown of each sense:
Sight
Select unique details. Readers can "fill in" a lot of the "ordinary" information, so give the reader unusual, but important, details to focus on. .
