Considering your aphantasia post, it could be related to that? Idk, but do you think it could help you if you have a list of words associated with a certain place to help you describe it when the time comes? Like, say, you have some weird ocean, just write down all the things that would be in it (e.g. seaweed) and then do word association: seaweed is brown or green. It might be slimy, slime is shiny, shiny is sparkling… like that?
Idk. Just an idea
But I also think you don’t have to worry too much.
When I read books and the characters are in a place, I don’t recall ever coming to scenes where all the stuff is described. Maybe there’s mention of a table by a window? Maybe there’s a blanket on a bed and it’s fuzzy. Or maybe the trees above are hiding the sun and we smell wet autumn leaves.
It’s really minimal unless somehow a detailed description of the space is important to the plot. Maybe the character is trying to escape or something.
But what if it’s otherworldly and important to show? I have so many weird places in my stories. There’s an upside down forest in Between Roses. And in the World of Elgana books, and others. I just like weird forests.
I try to describe it in bits. Too much and it’s confusing. First, I focus on the upside down trees, where the leaves are like clouds and their roots are stretching up to the sky. Then we look at the sky. It’s not sky. It’s ground. There’s a pond above Eryn’s head and it’s not dripping down on her. She can almost reach it.
So yeah, bit by bit, and I keep bringing it up, too, in varying degrees of description, so the reader can become familiar with it. Later, Eryn is angry, so she kicks at the ground and kicks up cloud dust. She notices a crescent moon shining beneath her feet. It’s like it’s under glass. How pretty, but she’s also angry and frustrated. She leans against a tree and sobs.