Show don’t tell:

These are notes from a symposium panel probably from the 1980s. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

Put action in a scene rather than narration.
Put events with an action.
One often noticed that the section of his book that was slow with the parts that he summarized.
Engage the reader put someone in jeopardy.
Resonance, how does your description add to the already established troops of the genre? Description should affect the reader emotionally.
Create motion in the story. It can be external objects birds flying or cars driving by. While you have two characters in a conversation other things can happen around them. As the book nears the end motion stops giving a hint to the reader that the book is about and.
In the movie Russian House it has a lot of dialogue between the two characters. But other things are happening in the scene to keep a sense of movement.
One type of motion is emotion.
Some authors create a lot of sensory details.
Any saying something relevant should happen.
In a comic one author wrote he had three characters in a Tavern. While they were talking he then has the scene from the perspective of the barkeep who was attending drinks and the characters in the background. Then he presented the story to the point of view of the waitress was she served them drinks. He then had a scene of a cockroach on the ground climbing up the leg of a table as these characters are talking and finally the roach climbs on top of the table is walking across the table and as the men get out one man towns his mug of ale on the roach kills it. All three perspectives move the story along as the characters conversed.
We have dialogue put the seeing an interesting place. With that can provide entertainment in addition to the dialogue.
One test often will do with your students is to write a short scene. He will then have them write the same scene but only use the senses of smell. Go have them write the seeing third time and have them only show touch etc. given the students and appreciation of the importance of each of the sensory details.
Don’t rely upon the standard stereotype. When Anderson wrote Jedi search it had ensemble going to the minds of Castle. Instead of showing a regular mind with guys in top hats and digging out dirt with Lance. They had the minors in complete darkness, because light would ruin the spice. So everything they did they had to do by touch. And while they were in complete darkness a monster was gradually killing each of them off.
Listen to the appropriate background music that can contribute to the creation of the same. You might want to have action music to help write an action scene for example.
If you have to write a scene out of the snow then seek out the opportunity to be out in the snow so that you can actually experience the same sensory details that your characters would be experiencing
Sometimes choosing the correct point of view can add relevance to a scene. For example in one story a sword Smith will complete the making of a sword by plunging it into the body of a slave. This story is not from the point of view of the Smith, or the point of view of the slave it gets killed, it comes from the point of view of the slave who is the next one to be used.
Let the environment of the story create its own challenges. If characters are walking in the snow scene they might be trying to walk across the snow bridge and they may wonder if the bridge -can hold their weight. This will add tension.
Book: writers’ digest called description.
Successful authors are always busy. Always read new material to improve your knowledge as a writer. They don’t let themselves be distracted by things that can take time away from their job.