I'm trying to write the beginning of my book and I'm stuck on describing the heroine's house and her moving process, I never been good at describing places, I tried getting references such as this https://s3.amazonaws.com/notebook-content-uploads/content/uploads/medium/de848eb5-eb6c-451c-b230-a53c7381d927.jpg?1560267747
to describe but nothing really comes to mind, can help me
Um… I'm not naturally good at it either, but what I usually do is that when I see a reference picture I take a quick look at it and then I just quickly describe what I see first in the picture. Like, in that picture, the first thing I saw was the fireplace. Then probably the window and how that spread the light into the room. And then I just make my characters notice a detail about the item. Like,
"She walked into the room. It was very beige, but it matched her personality. She had always loved the fireplace that was located against the main wall. Together with the couch it made the room cozy and made it feel like a home and not just a room. The window let in just enogh light to create a nice lightning, rays of sunshine playing over the floor, creating patterns."
(Okay, maybe that wasn't a good description of the location but I think you get my idea. It would have sounded much better if written in my native language lol)
I hope it helped somewhat…
Thanks for the advice
Np!
I'd also recommend using the items as potential metaphors for the current situation. For example, if something bad is on the horizon:
"The carpet had a jagged pattern that changed if you so much as squinted. It was crooked underneath the table, two legs atop its fuzz, two on the jagged wood floorboards. It wasn't considered informal to wear shoes all about, the floorboards could hardly contain themselves and splintered off in an aggravated excitement."