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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2683
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The way you choose to describe the setting depends entirely on what's at stake for the narrator. You are writing the story; the narrator is telling the story. It's important to understand the distinction.

- Is your narrator a godlike character who sees all and knows all, including the private thoughts of all the characters, and details known only to narrator and reader but not the characters? 
- Is it someone more objective, who reports only on things that are directly observable, without access to anyone else's thoughts?
- Is it an active participant in the story, who can observe and describe, but also articulates his own thoughts? 
- Do various characters take on the narrative role at different points in the story?
- Does your story step into the land of metafiction and postmodermism, where the narrator expounds on the nature of fiction itself?

The narrator's role will help you choose which details to reveal when you describe the setting. With that, there are ways you, as the author, can have fun with your characters. For example, what your narrator _fails_ to notice can be as interesting to your readers as what he does describe. A seemingly objective narrator can turn out to be unreliable, inducing the reader to reflect on the story so far, and work to uncover the actual truth.

So, there's no specific order, or list of items to include. Do what you need to do to build the necessary tension to advance the story, and reward the reader for sticking through to the end.

Original score: 2