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Details bring your setting to life. They reveal the theme and hint at things to come. The trick for creating them is easier than making Rice Crispy Squares, and when done right, equally delicious (or even better, if you happen to hate Rice Crispy Squares).
Read through your scene, open up a blank page, and close your eyes. Now visualize the scene. What do you see? Hear? Taste? Feel? Smell? Move around the setting and make note of everything. How does each detail make you, as your scene character, feel? What are you is your character thinking when she sees, hears, tastes, feels, smells these things? Keep brainstorming.
Pick the strongest descriptions and the emotions associated with them. Tweak them if necessary, to add mood and theme words, and place them in your scene. Don’t dump them in one place. Weave them in several locations.
The advantage of doing it this way is that your creative flow isn’t impeded by trying to work around the action and dialogue already in the scene. When you’re brainstorming the setting, you aren’t worried about those things. Try it. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is, especially if you struggle with setting.
Do you have a trick for creating setting? Do find setting easy or challenging to write?