Humans continually modify much of the environment in order to make it more comfortable to live. Yet many places still exist on Earth and our Solar system that are dangerous and uninhabitable by humans, at least for the long term.
Summer holidays last forever, especially if you are a child – or indeed a parent. Weeks and weeks of sun drenched days with no planned activities. Sounds marvelous? But how are these to read about? Endless descriptions of sunsets or
People have been making up ways to measure and define all the things for a very long time, perhaps longer than we can measure. So if in “real” life people make up stuff that becomes a standard, what shall we
If a smell can trigger a memory, then a touch can trigger an immediate reaction. Our vocabulary is rich in words that are repellent merely from their association with touch – moist slithers to mind. But the opposite is true
Everyone always complains about the weather – do your characters? Or do they sail through the pages in blissful ignorance of the climate? Weather conditions can be a big part of a scene, adding impact in many different ways, from
Crafting descriptions that involve the senses is an important job for a writer. For a reader it helps them to fully immerse in a book, to feel like they have entered a new world – from the creak as a
Fantasy books are often set in a more primitive world where the chance of having a hot shower is minimal and toothbrushes possibly not invented. Likewise, in space, water is at a premium, needing to be recycled over and over.
Pets, be they cats, dogs, birds or toads do enmesh themselves in our lives, with most people owning a pet at some stage of their lives. So it is not to be wondered that they infiltrate works of fiction as
Reading is easy. We sit in a comfortable chair, perhaps by a warm heater with cat on lap/dog at feet and a hot drink. That’s often why we read, to share vicariously the bad times and good with characters while