Here is a picture taken by my daughter of the wheat fields by where I live. When fall comes, many places have glorious autumn colors, but another one of my favorite scenes is the wheat ready to harvest. How aptly these fields are described as "amber waves of grain." Which brings me to my point of the day...comparing my clumsy description, "wheat ready to harvest," which sounds so blah, compared to "amber waves of grain," which is a gorgeous poetic vision. How do you get from blah to beautiful in your descriptions? Study and practice poetry. Read a book about it and practice writing it. It will really help! It doesn't matter if you're not good at it yet. Any amount of study and practice will make you better. And you will begin thinking in terms of poetry when you describe things in your stories.
Being able to describe things poetically makes your book so much more satisfying to read and so beautiful. It is part of the "art" of writing. The craft of writing is definitely a "craft," which can be learned. But there is art and finesse involved too, that you can only learn through practice and study of masters of the art.
One of my favorite writers recently has been Shannon Hale. Her story "The Goose Girl," has descriptions that I can only describe as "delicious." I often read parts of her book when I want to get in a poetic mood. I'm sure you have your favorites as well. Who are they?
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