How Do You Describe a Place?

by Anna del C. Dye @AnnaDelC
Indie Author Hub Member

In the same way you describe people and feelings,  you want the place to be seen in the reader’s mind as vividly as if they were there. It also has to do with the “show don’t tell” technique that is so desirable for a good author. You want your readers to feel it, touch it, see it, taste it and smell it. Every time you can use a combination of the senses or all of them in your book, you have the best descriptions ever.

Here are some ideas that can help inspire your own descriptions:

The sea of golden waves spread before my eyes while the breeze caressed it back and forth. I knew we had been blessed with a great crop this year. (wheat)

The rumble threatened to split the earth under our feet, and the dust settled on my eyelashes. (earthquake, mine accident)

The tormented waves sent their salt-water hands to slap my ship as if that would calm her pain. (stormy sea)

The furious rain fell like wet knives over my cold body.

The cracked soil thirsted for water and relief from the sun. (desert)

The heat was magnified with fury over the massive white rocks, bright enough to blind us.

The majestic green trees spotted the forest with their beautiful leaves.

The velvety darkness seemed the perfect bed for the diamonds that lay in many intricate forms while they glistened in the night. (night sky)

Now go, and happy writings to you
~~~

Shared with us from Anna's blog.

Anna was born in the extreme South. She loves reading, but had few opportunities to do so while growing up. As a young woman, she moved North to marry Rodney Dye and has resided in Utah since then. They are the parents of three princes and a princess. With her husband and his family she has had the opportunity of traveling to many of the United States, (most of them camping!) and to four other countries. She would like to visit castles in European countries. She is fluent in both English and Spanish and understands Portuguese.

After she married, Anna was introduced to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books that she admits to having collected. A number of years ago she was introduced to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and to J. K.Rowling's writings, which she loves. She also loves romantic music (she listens to it every day), theatrical plays that she attends at least six times a year, and cats (when they are not shedding).

Anna wears her dresses down to her ankles and likes them to be very feminine, with lace being one of her favorite trimmings. "I am afraid that I do not follow fashions," she has said. "I wear what I like."

You can find Anna on her website, her profile on FaceBook, and on Twitter at @AnnaDelC.