The Steps:

Writing is a process. Do an outline. There is a logical order to storytelling.

Write a one-sentence summary and never stray from the point as you write. Good writing means not throwing away much of what you know, but synthesizing or hanging onto only what matches the central theme of the story.

Writing is the story's voice. Determine voice. The tone should match the essence of the story. Is it best told in an inverted pyramid structure? In first person? As an essay,

Writing is discovery. You are now ready to start your conversation. How? Just get it down on paper. Let yourself go and be surprised about what happens.

Faulkner said, "There are some kinds of writing that you have to do very fast, like riding a bicycle on a tightrope."

Good writing has a beginning, middle and end. Many writers get stuck on the beginning. The best advice is, Skip the first paragraph, start with the second and come back to it.

Another technique is to write about 15 first paragraphs in different ways as fast as you can, even abbreviating words, virtually scribbling.

Soon you will find you are borrowing elements from one paragraph and using it in another. Then you look back and pick the one you like best...or continue on with the second paragraph and go back later. The middle should come easy, if you have an outline.

Finally, the ending. Well, it may be final, but it also is lingering. The last paragraph sticks in the reader's mind. So you should make a special effort to have a good final paragraph--not a summary, but something that captures the essence of the story.

It may be a nugget of information that you have stored up like a squirrel. Many good writers often know what they are going to say in the last paragraph before they write the first paragraph.