Go to a woodland forest. Write about anything and everything that catches your eye. Include how you feel about those things and what they remind you of. You can branch out into anecdotes form childhood if you like, so long as they're interesting anecdotes. Everyone knows what a forest is so there's no need to be concerned with the obvious.
There is a lot to describe here. It depends how technical you want to be as well. Being a student of ecology, I'm likely to talk about things in layers and relationships. Look at the different structures of the woodland. What is the field layer like? The canopy? What age are the trees? Is there a good diversity of species? Do you want to describe things artfully and loosely or do you want to infuse a bit of scientific accuracy in your writing?
You describe a wilderness setting in the same way you do a chair. With vivid prose that bring your story to life. Just use your imagination. ... and everywhere the most remarkable trees; giant elms with low sweeping branches, heavy with creeper, some springing to life with curious squirrels rushing and chattering to the three girls walking along the dirt path. Mabel stopped and bent an ear toward a gap in the tree line. “I hear a stream.”
If your story is set in the real world, the composition of your woodland or forest will vary depending on the climate, latitude, etc.
Were it me, I would make a 'woodland forest' file on Pinterest. It helps me to describe something when I look at various versions of what I have in mind.
What's important about the forest? Is it bright and sunny and full of chirping birds, or oppressively gloomy and filled only with the croaking of toads and whispering of the wind? The setting can be whatever you want it to be - figure out what the scene needs and describe that.
Is it primarily a coniferous or deciduous forest? A young wood full of pioneer species or an ancient forest full of mature, towering hardwoods? Temperate or tropical? Highland or lowland? Wet or dry? Forests are complicated and there's plenty of scope.
This is what I tried to impress in my post. Just out of interest, are you studying ecology/botany or any related field?
I usually google images of whatever I'm trying to describe and then stop at one or two images that catch my eye, and then try to describe them instead. Or if it matters very much to you and you are able, go to an actual forest. Another thing to bear in mind is: only describe what your character would notice. Be aware of what you're trying to convey - mood and the context of the scene should feature in your description. As in, you don't wanna describe everything there is to describe. You should highlight details that will serve the purpose of the description, and that purpose should usually be more than just showing what something looks like. I primarily use descriptions to set atmosphere.
Figurative language is always good, but be careful not to over use it. Similes and personification provide you with advantages, just don't drown out your writing with them when describing the forest.
Very good point. Don't have a young urbanite with no prior experience talking about mycorrhizae or noticing the proliferation of halophytes as he walks along the coast!
Unless your POV character has a different perspective from somebody who is just walking in the woods, I'd go with @Aled James Taylor 's suggestion. Go to a forest and walk for a while. Once you've started to absorb the atmosphere, then scribble a few observations. Include more than how things look. Include sounds, the feel of ground underfoot, smells, etc. And the feelings evoked by being there. Obviously if your character lives in the forest, or has just encountered a forest for the first time, or is studying something about the forest from an academic point of view, or running through the forest to escape or pursue, or tracking some animal, etc, these factors will also come into play. People will see forests differently, depending upon why they are there. But it doesn't hurt to get a grounding either. Take yourself to one. (You'll enjoy it!)
also do you need to describe it at all ... most people know what a woodland is, so if you just mention it and give a couple of hints the reader can fill in the blanks
Well, that might be an option—and unnecessary wads of description can certainly slow a story down. But reading is more than just finding out where a character is at any given time. The reader is also 'experiencing' a setting (through the point of view character.) So depending on what the story is about and who the POV character is, it might be a good idea TO slow it down and make us share the POV's perspective on the setting. It can make the difference between a richly-imagined story and a news report.
As mentioned earlier by @jannert, remember your POV. My Tevin is worldly and traveled. A woodland forest for him would likely be engaged in practical terms. What's edible, signs of running water, usable timber. Brenn is a sheltered person with little engagement of such a setting. It would be a more emotive, visual, olfactory, textural experience for him.
Most people know what their nearest woodland looks like. That might not look anything like the one in the story. How dark and confining a pine forest can be in winter might be a complete unknown to somebody more used to clumps of palm trees.
Exactly. I don't want to stress the point too much, but homogeneity and uniformity is the death of ecological awareness! There isn't one type of "jungle" (rainforest), there isn't one type of heathland and there certainly isn't one type of woodland. Habitats are appropriately complex. I'd like to promote the idea that writers get familiar with different habitats in order to paint them more vividly for their readers.
