[Auryporry]

Short, simple, and sweet: What's your best method to practice writing scenery/description?

[Invisible Ink]

Urg, I hate writing scenery, but the best way I know how is to describe the scenes I've seen. But I'm also pretty lucky as I get to travel alot. Well, not alot, but I've seen some pretty awesome places.

[Regitnui]

*gag* I can do dialogue, sensations, emotions, but my place description is my weakest point. Usually i have a picture in my mind of what's going on, and i use that to describe the scenery.

[Invisible Ink]

It's just so annoying having to do the five senses with your scereny. Lame.

[garfield]

Since when do you have to do the five senses with your scenery? =P

[Yeerk Slayer]

One time I wrote a short story about a kid walking barefoot in the rain. There was no point to it, other than practice. All I did was go into as much detail as I could about the feel of the mud underneath his feet, sound of the light drizzle against the lightposts, the taste of the rain as he opened his mouth, the smell of the fresh spring air all around him, and the sight of the gathering fog creeping up the hill. He didn't say anytihng. There was no one else around. I just allowed him to open up his senses to everything around him, and he did. It was two and a half pages long.

As you can guess, it wasn't that difficult or time consuming. I find that doing short stories like that every once in a while is good, and helps me on occassion when I'm writing my other stories/novels.

[Rinion]

I generally only spare a few sentences for the scenery in any given place, because I figure the average reading will be more interested in details about the characters and what they're doing than what can be seen around them. Here's a typical example of my brief scenery:

At the top of the hill, a rough path wound its way through the thickening forest, where beech gave way to gnarled oak. High boughs stretched across the path, blocking out the fading light of the sky.

[Eldunari Keeper]

I don't like spending a lot of time on describing things, especially after my English teacher forced me to waste a page describing lasagna. I try to keep it short, but forget to describe scenery at all much, because I just want to continue the plot.

[Ultima Valenhart]

I don't overly bother with it. Anyway, if you need to practice, look out of the window and write down what you see. Do that at different times of the day and in different weather.

[Regitnui]

It's just so annoying having to do the five senses with your scereny. Lame.

Since when do you have to do the five senses with your scenery? =P

It's usually just necessary for sight and sound in my opinion. The other sense aren't necessary unless something really serious is going on involving that sense. The feel of flight or the smell of the anasthetic (sp?) they use.

---,-'-@

[Invisible Ink]

I've always been taught in my classes to use as many senses as I can. It was often required when turning in a short story. Sight and sound alone is pretty dull. On my own, I usually include smell and sometimes touch, depending on how descriptive I'm being and if the situation calls for it, like if the air is humid or if the charry is brushing against a tree or leaves and takes note of it. But taste? That feels like over doing it, unless the charry is in a bakery or something that specifically calls for the taste descriptions.

[garfield]

It just sounds too methodical for my liking. As if, when you're writing to have to remember to include all that, and if you haven't, you're not doing it right. I usually don't think about things like that when I'm writing - I rarely think of anything stylistic aside from whether or not it reads well. When I'm describing something, I also tend to keep it short, unless it has some higher significance, in which case I give it more attention, but the manner in which I describe it varies a lot. I think I rarely use all five senses when describing one thing. It sounds very heavy, even thinking about it... I mean why would you be describing taste if all you're talking about is a location? Etc etc...

[Thundra]

I pretty well hate describing things, because I just want to get my thoughts down. Once I'm done writing the scene in my mind, then I go back and describe it in as much detail as needed, or as much as I want.

When I have trouble figuring out how to describe something, I usually write a character sketch, and/or look out my bedroom window. If that doesn't help, I watch a bit of TV and get some ideas from whatever's on.

But when it really comes down to it, it's all about your own preference. As many have said, they prefer to keep it short and simple, while others like to juice it up. I'm in between, because, for example, I love the smell of the air after a heavy rainfall, especially when it's thick with the smell of pine trees, but not really interested in the sight of the mud puddles, or the sound of my shoes squeaking on the floors at school after accidentally stepping in one.

Here's an example of my description, just by looking out my bedroom window:

The sky was overcast with dark grey clouds, water droplets falling heavily as if their very existence depending on them reaching the ground. The tall pine trees swayed with the strong gusts of wind that kept whirling through, and droplets of rain pounded against the window. The air was thick with the smell of wet pine, and all one could hear was the sound of tree branches smacking against the window pane.

Short and sweet, and not the greatest, but I get my point across. Sometims I like having all the senses (or most of them), and still keep it short, and sometimes I like only having one or two.

To be honest, I think it all depends on what you're trying to describe. When you're describing a character, you might want to just keep it on sight, while for the scenery, you might want to include several other things.

[Regitnui]

Draco, noone can teach you to write. They can teach you English; vocab, grammar and spelling; and they can guide your writing, but you can never teach someone to write. you either have a talent for it or you don't. Simple as that. Nobody can describe all five senses all of the time. It just don't make sense. Like Yeerk Slayer said, writing about a the scenery can take ages. Two and a half pages on description, and that was without a moving plotline.
Describing to much detail can also become tiring for the reader. I don't want to feel like the writer is telling me 'you experience this, you experience that'. I don't care what colour the sandstone rocks around their campsite is when i want to see how the characters will react to the past events or where they're going to go. I like my characters fleshed out, not the pretty, shiny land.
Thundra is right. Not many senses are necessary to create a picture. looking out the window all you're likely to get is sight and sound, maybe smell. In that short paragraph Thundra painted a brilliantly vivid picture with three senses, most of it with sight. If your teacher asks for that sort of description, she better have written something herself, just to see how difficult it actually is. In fact, suggest that to them/him/her.

---,-'-@

[Invisible Ink]

Yes, thank you, I discovered that on my own. Like I said, I don't normally write like that, only when it's required. And yes, the teachers that have required it have written things like that. They just felt the need to give us an example.