atmosphere will become completely different.In a romance, for example, the background has a major influence on the behaviour of the characters.In each case, the setting is described in sensuous detail, the scents of fruits and flowers, crystal clear lakes, whispering breezes and rolling hills.The pace of the story is always slow enough to allow the reader to savour the sights, sounds and flavours but fast enough to maintain the impetus.Making war not loveAction novels such as war stories use similar techniques to conjure up the feel of battle.Shattered bodies and flattened buildings, deafening shellfire, screams of terror, the stench of death all around.It is relatively easy to get carried away but try to avoid using more than ten lines of pure description in one block or your story will lose pace and fail to hold a reader’s attention.Letting your characters set the sceneThe most effective way to describe a scene is to let your characters do it for you through interaction with their surroundings.This will improve the pace of your writing and convey a feeling of setting, atmosphere and insight into the character in one fell swoop.Passage AIt was the middle of winter.The room was icy cold and hiding in one corner was a child, a little girl.The man stood in the room for a moment but could not see her concealed in