A story-teller is someone who has a story to tell. So the first question to answer is:

What is your story?

Your story is that tale you want to share with others. It can be personal or imagined, informative, educational, expository, inspirational or motivational. Your story can be told as a narrative or in dialogue. It can be expressed through poetry, drama, as fiction or non-fiction.

Define your genre.

Your genre is your method of telling your story. Broadly, there are two forms of writing. Fiction and non-fiction. Be specific on what your genre is. What do you want to write? Experienced writers will advise that you write what you love to read because there are thousands and millions of you out there.

Discover your voice.

As a writer, it is essential to find your voice. Your voice is your style of writing. Besides the research you will do to authenticate the story you have to write, you must also learn to write in a distinct way.

Learn to write.

An unfortunate 80% of writers today do not have formal training on how to write. Just like any other craft, you cannot depend on your creativity alone. You need to learn the technique of writing, and the trends in writing. For instance, in fiction, gone are the days when a reader wants to be told the story. These days, readers want to be part of the story. They want to be in the story.

Explore your environment.

A creative writer needs to be observant. Anything around you can become a story. Don’t just look, see. Don’t just hear, listen. Smell, taste, and feel. Using your six senses helps your story to come alive. I’ve had people ask me to show them houses I described in my novels, but these houses don’t exist except in my imagination.

Research.

Without proper research, your creativity cannot be appreciated. No matter how good a writer you are, you need to get your facts right. Example of a book I read, and the dates were mixed up. If you are writing about the year 2000 in Nigeria, you should research the N1000 note did not exist.

Edit.

Generally in writing, editing entails checking for spelling, grammar use, and choice of words, organizing paragraphs, sentence errors, punctuation, and use of English. There are different aspects of the editing process. There is proofreading, re-writing, editing for brevity, clarity, and marketability, consisted in three broad types. The first thing you need to do, is self-edit. It is common knowledge that Ernest Hemmingway self-edited the last page of Arms and the Man, thirty-nine times. The better polished your writing is, the more shiny your talent and creativity shows.