The Writers' Coffeehouse Forum from an idea to a story

Hello everyone, I've been itching to write but never really done much of it and don't really know how to write. How do you guys go from having an idea to making it a story? Do you just write and then organize and revise later or do you have a plan first?

I believe that everyone's writing process varies from person to person, but it seems to always start with a great idea, one which seems to obsess every detail of your life for a moment.  You think and you see which direction you want to head towards when you write and then you write!  It's that simple!

But making it GOOD writing takes a lot of work.  Afterwards comes proofreading, editing, and revising your writing.  This process can take the longest if you do it correctly.  You don't want to skip any corners, you want to correct anything you find as well as answer questions like:  Does this piece of writing make sense?  Did I stay focused on my idea?  Did my idea come across the way I wanted it to?  Can I change or add something to make it better?  Is there something I can remove without changing the entire focus?  If these questions aren't answered perfectly, then you still have work to do.  If you read your writing and it doesn't feel right, chances are there's more for you to edit.

Don't forget what you should do BEFORE you write too: brainstorming.  Some writers have it easy and they can brainstorm in a matter of minutes, but sometimes you have to sit and imagine and plan your writing from beginning to end before you dive in.  Of course, any advice I give to new readers is just to WRITE, don't worry too much about brainstorming right away.  Just write what you can, even if there's spelling or grammar mistakes, even if it doesn't make sense.  Just get it on paper (or MS Word).  Once it's finished, THEN you can worry about editing and making it GOOD writing.  A lot of writers get it in their head that good writing has to burst from your pen, but that's not true.  The first draft is always rough and horrible, very rarely do you meet a writer who can perform perfectly with little to no editing needed.

After everything is polished, be happy!  You wrote something!  It's really not hard, I guess the worst part is writers block.  You'll learn about that pretty quickly once it hits you.  But just keep writing and you'll break through.  We all do.  =]

Hi Josh

Hi there!A few tips which I'd like to pass on in the hope that they may help you. I should say though, I'm new to writing myself, so more experienced writers on this site may disagree with my suggestions here.
Don't stray too far off your story line. Your reader might start to loose the interest they had until you started to deviate to things that are not relevant to the story. But having said that, there's nothing stopping you from rattling out everything in your mind onto your keyboard, then editing those bits out which you later realise are not needed for the stories progress.
Friends and family are prone to say your writing is good!, Don't always rely on them when you want an honest opinion.
Who says you have to write the beginning of a story first?. I have written a couple of short stories where I have jumped from writing a part near the end, back to writing the opening few paragraphs. It's a matter of whatever helps you get there in the end, I reckon.
Don't write when you are really tired!. I'm terrible for spending hours at night typing away, thinking I'm getting somewhere with a story, only to find that in the morning, what I wrote at 1a.m. is full of mistokes, and reads awful.
As an exercise for writing your first story. How about thinking about a past memorable experience, good or bad, making a few notes about structuring the story i.e. scene setting, people involved, lead up to whatever experience or happening you've chosen, then how you want the story to end. When you've done that, before starting to write, take a look at some web pages that offer “tips for creative writing”. 
Hope that's of some help.
Happy writing!
Phil M