How Do You Create A Setting?

I’ve spent a lot of time writing about creating a setting recently, and although I believe it to be a very important part of writing an engaging story, I will only write one more piece of advice (for now). That is to know the details of your setting. If possible, visit your setting when your characters would, such as lunch at that corner diner or a stroll through the park at five in the afternoon. Notice the smells around you, the noises coming from every direction, the vendor on the street or the waitress at the counter with the funky red and black hair. Feel the humidity and notice where to take cover if it started to rain. Things like that make the story come alive to your readers.
If you can’t go to the place, such as the quarters your character has on ship, an alien ceremonial hall, or the classroom of a fictional school somewhere, draw it out. Draw out the room dimensions, where the furniture is, what is on all the shelves, what color are the walls and decorations, what plants or decorations are on the floor and walls, what pattern is on the floor and ceiling, and any smells or tastes. If you’re in an outdoor setting, try drawing a panorama of what could be seen or write a few pages of what is along the path the characters are walking. You may not use everything you think up for your setting, but the point is to make the scene come alive for your reader. How can you make the readers believe they’re somewhere else if you don’t know everything about where they are? As the writer, your job is to show your reader where they are with words in a way that they can see it in their mind. If you can’t see it, how can you describe it?