The first step to refining your story telling is to look over your work or an existing work. If books bore you, try comics! Study the grammar, the syntax and the voice of the writer. Focus on the details. Getting better at the details means less work in the future because you’ll gain the experience and pattern recognition to write better. Grammarly is quite helpful. It’s not perfect. Many grammar questions can simply be typed into Google, and, usually, that’s enough.
Next, focus on the big picture. Were there any unexplained plot holes? Was a character lacking in some way? What would make this story better? Ask these questions and more to polish the theme of your story. A common way to plan your story is the 3-Act story structure. The following video may have some light cursing in it, but is very good at describing story structure (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6QD5Pbc50I). You can also look at wikipedia’s article for more on 3-Act story structure. If you’re stuck on creating a character’s personality, you can look up Jung archetypes, or find one characteristic about a character and heavily exaggerate it. Are they deathly afraid of liquid soap? Play it up. Maybe it’ll spark some new ideas about them. Here are some graphics for more ideas: http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/images/archetypal_wheel.bmp and https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/91/37/12/913712512affb22f9cfae793802e978e.jpg.
Next, study an existing author whose style you like. Emulate it. Write a paragraph or page in your own words, or refine their words. Is it better? What makes your refinement better or worse?
Find time in your schedule to just write. 15 minutes… 10 minutes…. 5 minutes…whatever. If you start in the morning, take a break, open your writing at night, and read it. What could be better about it? What would you change if you wrote it now? Where do you make grammatical mistakes. Don’t beat yourself up, or you’ll probably lose interest. Honestly assess and learn. You don’t need to be your greatest critic. Be your best friend. Who also likes to write, and is good at editing. Wow, what a useful best friend!
Let me know what you think, and feel free to post any other ideas for refining stories. Have a good day, dear reader!