Writing comes alive when you describe a scene so that the reader is there in it with you, experiencing it as if they were in your movie. You need to ‘show’ the reader and not ‘tell’ the reader what happens.

Look at the difference ‘telling’ and ‘showing’ makes here:

Telling
I walked into a terrifying forest that night.

This would be more powerful if you brought the word ‘terrifying’ to life. You need to ‘terrify’ your readers through your description. Create an atmosphere that is terrifying using sounds, feel, sights, smells so that the reader feels the atmosphere in their bones …

Showing
The trees were ghostly pale like corpses standing in the twilight. An icy wind whistled through their empty branches that reached out like their frozen fingers. The fallen leaves were wet and slimy underfoot with a putrid smell like rotting flesh…

Notice how the writer used her senses – sight, sound, touch, smell… And notice the comparisons she used as well.

Now choose two of the following topics and write a few sentences that make the reader really feel the atmosphere of the place.

It was a lit party
It was a haunted house
It was a tranquil beach.
It was a busy street