抖阴社区 Better: Tips and tricks

Crafting Visual Atmosphere

Example: Staring into the mouth of the cave.

Textures and Colors

Describing textures and colors helps paint a vivid picture and can evoke specific emotions. Texture is traditionally a "touch" element, but I wanted to highlight it here under visual atmosphere, because your characters can visualize/describe texture without feeling it.

Textures: Textures draw a second sense into your setting. Your character doesn't need to run over and hug the alligator to get a sense of its scales to set the mood for the huntsman's Florida lodge. Seeing a wall of furs, or a plush pink coat or a distinct velvet wallpaper can really help to sell the mood of the scene, a character's personality, etc.  Rough, decayed, or unusual textures can enhance a sense of age and neglect. Soft textures add fragility or femininity - there's a lot to explore, and a lot of ways to show texture. 

Example: The walls were covered in peeling, moldy wallpaper, the once-vibrant patterns now faded and obscured by grime. 

Colors: colors are an easy visual enhancer — scan through your latest chapter and see how often you bring color in. It's very easy to have too much color and not enough "other" as far as visual description goes (sometimes we get wrapped up in the colors of things and less about what makes a thing worth describing - for example, I've read stories where characters are described by hair color, eye color, skin color, then the room is described as the color of paint, and the color car outside, and the sky is blue and the clouds are white...and the writer forgets to draw in other visual details). 

Sometimes, there's not enough color, or the highlighting of color at one specific point can really make a reader instantly picture something.

In the right scene, any color could mean anything, so think carefully of why you're using color and what meaning you're trying to evoke with it. Is it utility (the MC has brown hair; I need to just say it and move on)? Are you indicating something? (The most beautiful woman MC has ever seen in their life needs a specific shade of brown to do her justice and reinforce the idea that MC think she's special) Are you highlighting something in a fast, vivid visual? (Blood spray on a wedding dress) Do you need to set the tone? (MC is depressed and the sky is overcast)

Environmental Conditions: 

Weather is gonna weather. Even if MC isn't outside, there's probably  a reason (in part: environment) that the structure they're contained in is built the way it is. Depending on what species your character is, environmental conditions might even influence the design of your character, or the condition they're in!

Weather

Weather influences a character's attire, their ability to move safely, their physical strength, sometimes even what they have available to eat. Weather, when noted, is often a threat, hides a threat, or symbolizes a growing threat. It can also be used to reinforce whatever the mood is, be it a melancholy rain, a cleansing rain, or a charming summer twilight.

Fog: Creates a sense of mystery and hides details.

Example: A thick fog had rolled in, reducing visibility to mere feet.

Rain: Adds a dynamic/moving element, sounds, and can obscure vision.

Example: Rain poured down in sheets, blurring the world outside the window and creating a rhythmic drumming on the tin roof.

Snow: Can be both beautiful and deadly, and "cleans the slate" so you can add contract, or bury detail to keep reader focus where you want it.