From 143-145 of Sarah Stone and Ron Nyren’s Deepening Fiction:

• Let a “narrator’s specific attitudes and desires color” a setting
• Mention “inanimate objects . . . in relation to” your character’s desire
• Use “an aspect of the setting to illuminate“ a character

With these three points in mind, revise a portion of the story you’re working on.

Email me the original portion and your revision.

Remember, “Characters go to particular places because of their situations or emotional state, and, once there, they notice certain details and interpret them according to their own moods and temperaments.” Also, notice this: “When we’re revising and focusing on the selection of the right details for our own stories, we can sort through the array of possibilities by considering how objects might be meaningful to our characters, how they reflect the characters’ urgent needs or emotionally charged histories, and how they may strike the reader.”