Writers must be willing to place themselves in environments where they can witness life happening and imprint details of those events in their memories. Literature is a great environment for finding these details, as is eavesdropping on people s conversations. Many times, what s happening around a central figure is the most interesting thing of all. A keen sense of observation helps writers to develop awareness and appreciation of things that often go unnoticed by others. For instance, you have walked up and down the stairs of your house several times a day for 15 years.
Writers also learn by reading critically.
To know how to use language effectively, we first must understand how language works. Smell, see, touch, taste, and hear, and then translate those things into language. Dawn s story about what her character noticed when she walked into an unfamiliar apartment the odor of kitty litter, etc. Eleanor s character is oblivious to the extreme measures another character takes to avoid seeing him, so much so that his friends have to tell him what she s done. Turn the familiar toward the unfamiliar to make it engaging.