Step 1: Writing

Write. Yes, I'm serious. Don't worry one tiny little bit about this strange thing called 'variation', and don't pay much attention to the details of 'editing', either. When you're writing your first draft, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you put down on the paper things as you see them working in your head. Make sure that when you re-read those paragraphs, you can see those events dancing around in your head, exactly as you imagined them while writing. If it helps, have someone read your work aloud to you. How does it sound coming from someone else? Do you get the same quality? Do you need more description?

Details, especially descriptive details, never hurt anyone. One mistake that many beginning writers make is to lump on details about their character…but then they forget the setting. Don't limit the world to your characters; their surroundings can be just as important as they are, especially in an action-based scene (or a mood-setting scene, or many other types of scenes). If the characters in your story are walking up to a ship—is it a large ship? A small ship? Run down? Well maintained? Who's around the docks? Is this a shady area, or would mothers let their children run about this place with no fear of what might happen to the little tykes? Your characters need a background with which they can interact on a plausible level—this requires the background to exist as more than just a grey fog. For that, you need details. Trying to work on only character dialogue or actions won't provide much support to your story.

Because you're posting to an online website, I'm going to safely assume that you have access to a computer. Therefore, don't be afraid to edit excessively, or write knowing that you'll be editing excessively. Computers make life wonderful—with them, it's exceedingly easy to edit whenever you want, wherever you want in your story. With programs such as Microsoft Word, you can turn it to the Editor mode, and then give your story to someone else—and they can give it back later with you able to see exactly what they suggest changing layered overtop of your original document.

So, write, write, write! Then, it's on to step two…