Expanding on yesterday’s advice to read the type of story you aspire to write, keep a writer’s notebook where you jot down particularly memorable phrases and descriptions. While you may not use them, study their structure and figure out why they were so effective.

A skillful combination of carefully chosen modifiers can convey a vivid image. Here’s a paragraph from Michael Crichton’s State of Fear as an example:

“It was brighter, the sun now higher in the sky, trying to break through low clouds. Morton was scrambling up the slope, still talking on the phone. He was shouting, but his words were lost in the wind as Evans followed him.”

How much did he tell you using only 42 words?