Seagulls

For Valentine's Day, The Boy and I took our annual romantic getaway to Williamsburg, VA. As usual, we had an awesome time and came back with 6 cases of wine - always one of the highlights of the trip. This year we even had dinner with George Washington which sounds hokey but was fascinating.

Anyways, that's not the point of this post.

The point is, on our way there, when we were near Richmond, VA, The Boy pointed out all the seagulls flying around a parking lot. And it hit me: seagulls!

See, my current WIP has something to do with the ocean. There may be scenes involving the ocean at some point, but I don't know yet.* On the drive down I was thinking about what it would be like for my protagonist to approach the ocean. What she would notice: the heaviness of the air, that smell of salt, sounds.

But it had never occurred to me about the seagulls. How well before she even got close to the ocean or anything having to do with the ocean that there would be seagulls flying around. That the seagulls would arrive on scene well before anything else: sounds, smells, etc. They would be a huge clue that the ocean was somewhere nearby (and I use the term nearby very loosely!) I just couldn't believe I'd forgotten about the seagulls!

The experience made me wonder what else I'm forgetting - what other details would complete the scenes I've already written?

As writers I know that we all struggle to incorporate all of the senses in our writing and that we all have our own "sense" weakness. I tend to forget to put in smells.** I have to constantly remind myself to deepen descriptions beyond just appearance with sounds, tastes, smells (I think I do ok with touch but I'm sure I could do better). Of course there's always a balance - no one wants a rundown of every sense with every new description; instead, we as writers have to pick and choose what is most important.

What do y'all have to remind yourself to describe? As readers, what stands out to you the most? Has anyone else forgotten something like the "seagulls"? How do you remember these sorts of details?
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*Yet another example of my seat-of-the-pants writing style. Seriously, when I re-read that sentence I have to laugh: I may have a scene with the ocean but don't know yet? Sigh...
**Sometimes one sense can be very important to a story. When I think of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy, I remember smells because it is a key plot aspect.