Exercises to improve your use of description

Choose a spot with a view you like.  It does not have to be scenic.  Any place will do.  It can be new, or familiar, cluttered or bucolic.  Spend 15 minutes observing and taking notes.  Try to use all of your senses.  Use this setting.  You may write a description of it, or use it as a setting for action in your story.
 

Describe a place that you know well.  It could be your room from home or the place that you live now.  Limit your description to about three paragraphs.  Now describe the same place again, this time choosing a tone from the list below.  Communicate this mood through your description.  Repeat this exercise for several qualities from the list.  If you wish, try describing a person instead of a place.

 Moods:  Anger, Love, Boredom, Anxiety, Fear, Impatience, Shyness, Condescension, Nostalgia, Happiness, Desire, Weariness, Defeat, Awe

Observing a Stranger;
Go to a public place such as the library, a fast-food restaurant, the cafeteria, the HUB, a class etc.  where you can inconspicuously observe the people around you and choose one person to focus on.  Find someone who interests you and try to observe for 20 minutes.  Try to answer the following questions; What is the person’s physical appearance?  Describe his or her attire.  What is the person’s approximate age?  What do you think this person’s occupation (or major) might be?  Where do you think this person might live?  Why?  what kind of person do you think this person might be?  What are the clues to his or her personality?  What other kinds of information can you come up with?  How would you describe this person’s social class background?  How much education do you think this person has?  You may follow your subject and try to eavesdrop on conversations.
Later, try to write a story with this person as a character.