For a short fiction exercise, choose an ordinary object and keep its name out of the scene. Let the reader discover it through what people do around it.
You might choose a suitcase, a birthday cake or an umbrella. These are starting points, not required subjects. Give one character a practical concern involving the object and another a different concern.
- Write three actions that depend on its shape or use.
- Add one line of dialogue that assumes the object is present.
- Remove any description that simply replaces its name with an obvious label.
The aim is not to confuse the reader for as long as possible. It is to learn which details carry recognition. If nobody can follow the scene, add a concrete action rather than an explanatory paragraph.
Ask a reader when they formed a guess and what prompted it. Their answer shows which clue did the work. They may also identify a different object that fits your evidence equally well.
For the revision, decide whether that ambiguity helps. You can name the object in the final version if the exercise has already taught you something about describing it through action.