Create a folder on your desktop and name it whatever you'd like. This will be the folder in which you will organize all of your thoughts and ideas. Eventually, it will become a virtual representation of your creative brain. Be sure to back up this folder in a separate location many times throughout the process.
Make folders within this folder. Name them "characters," "plotline," "locations," "drafts," "publishing details," "scraps," "illustrations," "research," "layout" and "darlings." There is actually a free, open source writing program called "StoryBook" that will do this organization process for you (see link labeled "StoryBook" in the Resources section to download it.) During this process, you will need to type out every thought you have into this folder. Staring at a blank screen makes writing very difficult, and if you have a folder filled with thoughts and ideas, you will always have a starting point.
Open up a new document, or strand if you're using StoryBook. Use any word processing program you'd like. Ask yourself a few questions: To what genre will your story book belong? Will it have pictures and illustrations? For which age group are you writing? Are you writing to tell a story or are you writing to teach a lesson? How can you market this story book to sell? These kinds of questions are what publishing companies are going to ask, so if your long-term goal is to have your story book published, then you should keep all of these things in mind the whole time you write. Type out your answers, and save this document in the "publishing details" folder.
Devise a plan for the illustrations in your story book. How often are you going to include an image? Every page? Every chapter? Or just on the cover? Are you going to draw them yourself, or are you going to hire an illustrator? Are you going to draw them on paper, and then scan them onto a computer? Or are you going to draw them digitally? Are you going to draw them at all? Maybe you want to make tiny collages or include photographs. Jot the answers to these questions down in a document, and save it in the "illustrations" folder. If you do choose to include digital illustrations, you should download Paint.net, which is a free, open source image and photo editing program. You can find the link for Paint.net in the Resources section.
Figure out what is going to drive the story forward. There are two basic ways to write stories and still keep your momentum. One is to write for the story. If you have a specific story that you want to tell, this is the option you should choose. Getting to the climax of the story is what will keep you writing. The other option is to write for the characters. Choose this option if you have specific characters in mind, characters that feel like real people to you. When you begin writing, you will write the characters' thoughts, feelings and actions. You will follow them around in your brain, and write down what happens next. The actions of your characters will drive the story. Type out your decisions and thoughts on this matter in a document, and save it in the "characters" folder.
Start writing, brainstorming and researching. Attempt to write the actual story, and enter information into the designated folders about the characters, locations, plotline and illustrations as you discover them. Use a search engine to research everything, and be sure to include where you got the information in the "research" folder. If you have trouble getting started, you can do this in the opposite order: brainstorm about the characters and locations, plotline and illustrations, and wait to write the actual story until later. Doing these things will begin a prewriting process that is essential to creating a storybook. You will start to think about your story at all times in the back of your mind. You will come up with your best ideas during tasks likes working out, doing dishes, driving or folding clothes. When this happens, let your mind wander and discover these new ideas, and then when you hit a stopping point, type them out so that you won't forget.
Write without distractions. This is the point where you should be able to sit down and write for hours at a time. It sounds like a daunting task, but when you get to this point, you've done so much brainstorming and prewriting that the story will just come to you. It often feels like you are reading a book rather than writing one. A free, open source program that can help you write without distractions is called Dark Room, a simple word processing program that fills up your entire screen with a black background. The only thing you can do in this program is write, so it is really helpful if you want to force yourself to type out a huge chunk of writing without getting distracted (see Resources).
Edit your first draft. Start reading your draft from the beginning, and make many changes. You might find typos or grammatical errors, or maybe even entire chapters that don't fit in for some reason. Often, there will be sections that you absolutely love, but that just aren't right for the storybook. If you find yourself in this situation, you should highlight the entire section, and cut and paste it into a new document. Save this new document in the "darlings" folder, and then start that section over in the original document. This makes it easier to take out sections that you really love, since you don't have to actually delete them from existence. Keep reading, editing and rewriting until you get to the end. You might want to do this several times.
Design a layout and a cover for your storybook using various "book" templates in Microsoft Word or any other word processor. You can also use an image editing program, like Adobe Photoshop, or Paint.net. There are also programs that are specifically designed for book layouts available for purchase online. If you are using a word processing program or an image editing program, choose where you want to put your text and illustrations on each page. Certain publishing companies want to do this step for you to make your storybook look as professional as possible, so you may want to leave this step to the professionals.