Can I ask you how you specifically write scenery?
I write scenery like anyone else, but sure. (Be warned that this is going to repeat a lot of my previous thoughts on writing imagery in general.)
There is a quote from Vladimir Nabokov that I swear is real but I haven't been able to find online whenever I want to reference it. When asked how he creates these beautiful images in readers' heads, Nabokov (allegedly) said that you only need to describe one thing in a room uniquely, the rest is negligible. He (allegedly) gave the example of an old leather couch being described as melting chocolate. If you're writing a scene where a character enters a room with the melting chocolate couch, you really don't need any other descriptor. The couch tells you more than enough (it's old, the surrounding room may be filled with other piece of old furniture, the air is hot, the space feels sticky, etc.).
It's a good anecdote for writers needing to learn how to restrain themselves. You don't need to describe every inch of the room; the couch is fine. So, ironically, you can create a vivid image of a scene by describing one detail.
But how do you pick that detail?
A lot of writers (including myself) default to describing how something looks. We see our stories in our heads. But sight is only one of our five senses. When establishing a scene, you should try to cater to the other senses as well: hearing, smell, touch, taste.
Take a forest for example. Yes, there will be tall trees and green canopies. But the air will smell of plant-life, or even dirt. Animals will be making noise in the brush. Tree bark will feel rough under the fingers, or the air will be cold. The air could also taste fresh, or maybe the sandwich you ate on your hike over is still lingering on the tongue.
A lot of writing advice will encourage authors to view narration as "directing a camera." While helpful, I also think sticking to a movie-making analogy will encourage you to ignore the other senses. Instead, just try to force your readers to enter your POV character's head. Even if you are writing in third person, picking out unique sensations a person would feel in that environment will make it seem all the more real.
Whenever I want to quickly establish a scene, I try to pick 2-3 senses to direct the reader to. One is always visual, but the other two are fair game. I also will try to get the POV character to interact with some detail with in their surroundings as soon as possible, whether that be washing dishes, grumbling about how hard a chair is, or trying to escape the summer heat. Keeping their hands busy makes the landscape feel real.
Do you do theater? A lot of live theater productions have very little in terms of set design, but they make up for it by giving the actors props to interact with. Sure, you may have been looking at a black box before, but watching an actress scrub with a washing board turns the black box into a laundry room. Give the actress a champagne flute, and now we're at a Romanov ball.
When deciding what to focus on, I often try to find the little details that are transient-- things that are in the environment either temporarily, or because someone put them there.
Going back to our forest example, that could be a trail of ants slowly crawling over a log, or spigots in trees to collect maple syrup. If it's morning, there could be dew in the leaves. The trees could have evidence of a previous forest fire. This is why I often lean into seasonal changes, like how a character could note that the days are growing longer or that the sun is feeling hotter.
(Side note: I read about a study that noted that many of the words being removed from the dictionary were ones related to the natural world, possibly because books, especially for children, had increasingly less details about the outdoors. There was a specific example the article brought up about Stephen King novels having details about the specific bugs crawling on the ground while a group of kids played. Since reading that, I've been trying to be more cognizant about what I unthinkingly don't include in my imagery as a modern woman who grew up in suburbia.)
Transient details are also great for indoor environments. What is this room's function, and has it always been that function? Where does dirt and dust accumulate? How is the room different between morning, afternoon, and night? How has the room been changed by not only who has been in there before the characters entered, but by the characters themselves? In a reoccurring setting (like a bedroom or kitchen), what has changed since we last saw it? What do all these details tell us about the characters?
Your environments need to feel lived in, so you need to keep in mind what happens to that room when the reader doesn't see it. Leave evidence of use behind. Making rooms feel mutable helps to develop that sense of place that you might be looking for.
As always, one of the best ways to improve a specific writing skill is to study books. Find a professionally published book that uses scenery in a way you like, and pay attention to how the author writes. When in a scene does the author describe the environment? What specific words do they use? What sentence structures do you see? How do all these small elements work together? Then try to emulate their style to see what does and does not work for you.
