Writing Tip: Defamiliarisation

The term 'ostranenie' in Russian means 'making strange' or 'defamiliarisation'. Defamiliarisation occurs when the writer makes something trivial or habitual seems strange and unfamiliar to the reader as if it's perceived for the first time.
The strange effect can be created through description, metaphors and other rhetoric devices, so that through the distortion of form the object will appear from an unconventional angle. Instead of just showing the object and letting the reader recognise it, the writer slows down the process of perception and makes it more difficult to recognise the object, letting the reader really see and pick up clues step by step. The writer wants to portray objects as they are perceived in the context of the story not as they are known to everyone, and keeping in mind that description can be considered part of character and point of view, the manner in which the writer decides to portray and defamiliarise an object, or an act, will add to the character(s) and the mood of the story.

Go through the story you're working on and see if you can deploy this effect to replace familiar acts and object with something more intriguing for the reader. It doesn't mean the object will change, it means you are revealing it to the reader in a unique and original way.
Create a new story where you can use this effect as part of the world of a character - it can be the world of the main character or a strange world of, say, a villain that the main character enters.
Try using the defamiliarisation effect in either a moment within a scene (for example, when entering a scene, or climax), in the whole scene, in a sequence, in a chapter (keeping in mind the function of the events in the story as a whole), or in the whole story.
Take it to the next level: you can not only make your reader experience defamiliarisation but you can describe a character experiencing one. Show a character encountering something strange (an object or an event) and show the process of recognition to the reader. You can make the reader either part of the process by letting them go through the process with the character or keep the reader one step ahead, so that the reader can observe the process.

Further reading:
Defamiliarization in Language and Literature

Metafictional Techniques: Fourth Wall, Defamiliarization, Story Within a Story, Presentational Acting and Representational Acting, Metafiction