Every author has heard the advice, “Make your setting a character.” Like any character in a story, place needs to exist for a reason. Does the reader need to know what the skyline looks like if it has no bearing on what the character is doing, thinking, or feeling? When a place is experienced by the reader, it becomes part of the story itself, giving life to every scene. Instead of asking yourself, ‘How can I describe this place,’ ask, ‘How does this place affect what my characters are doing, saying, or feeling?’