Ah, the unearthly blue lakes of the Swiss Alps.  What a great setting to include in your story!  Problem is, how do you describe it in words and achieve the same breathtaking effect?

Trick question.  You shouldn’t be describing anything.  Your point-of-view character, or your narrator, communicates with the reader.  The first step toward good imagery is describing the scene the way s/he would describe it.  This is invaluable early in the story for establishing the world and revealing insight about the character, even before anything has happened.

“It was cold.”  Yawn.  This could come out of anyone’s mouth. Hell, a robot could output that with one line of code.  Here are better ways of saying the same thing:

• The crisp wind cutting across Tara’s face made her feel alive.
• It feels like the morgue freezer in here, Dr. Tanaway thought.
• As usual, even with fifteen layers on, I was freezing.

Observations like these differentiate characters, and make them easier to relate to- or not, if you’re setting up characters the reader should root against.

OK, so you have a better idea of how.  Now, what to describe?  Think about each of the senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, and more if so inclined.  What’s your POV character gathering from each?  How does each one make him/her feel?  What does s/he do in response?  Focus on the two or three senses that provide the best understanding of the setting and how the POV character responds to it.

For example, let’s return to the Alps.  Suppose two characters come upon that lake.  Sight is the most obvious thing to start with: sweeping mountains, clear sky, pristine water.  Set up some feeling too: warm sun, stirring breeze.  One of the characters takes in the fresh air (smell), stretches, and basks in the sun.  The other character grumbles, takes off his backpack, and rummages around for sunblock.

You can have a lot of fun with this.  In a first draft, throw down as many senses and reactions as you want.  The more imaginative you are, the better you “know” the setting and describe it for readers.  However, be prepared to trim weaker, less relevant bits of imagery when you return for revisions.  You don’t want to get so deep into descriptions that you leave the plot behind.

When editing, keep pacing in mind too.  Imagery breathes life into your story, but it also slows things down.  In a super-important or tense scene, you want this.  Pull the literary equivalent of a Sergio Leone shootout: make the reader agonize over every square inch of the moment.  In a fast-paced scene, where the POV character is in trouble or agitated, s/he won’t notice as much background detail.  Think about how you process your environment when you’re stressed, rushed, or addressing a problem.  Usually, you fixate on the immediate issue(s) and barely register anything else.

Though you don’t necessarily want your voice leaking into the imagery POV characters provide, your own experiences can absolutely inform theirs.  If your character’s doing something you’ve done before, remember what it felt like, what sort of thoughts you had, what you focused on and what you didn’t.  Lucky me, I’ve been to a few of those Swiss lakes.  Fifteen years later, I still can’t get over how magical they looked.

Do you have any suggestions for good imagery?  Feel free to comment and let me know!