Ditto what
@Gonz suggested, but brevity is not my strong suit, so here goes... I don't even really intend to write passable prose, but I have so many friggin words in my head that after a while what comes out is something I go back and read with a sense of bafflement (that's a real word, according to Mozilla spellcheck) because it portrays a clarity of thought that I know I was not in possession of at the time of spewing my word vomit. I also read stuff that helps my brain feel better. So much schlock flooding the internet that I have to counterbalance that with material above the vocabulary level of an average 12-year old American.
That being said,
writing is one thing, and
storytelling is another. You mentioned you have stories in mind already. IMHO it can get a little dicey to research and take classes on story-telling
per se, because then you become more of a story-critic instead of a story-teller. This is what I did with music theory. I learned it and now when I play my instrument I'm spending so much thought on getting it technically correct that the joy of playing for its own sake falls away. Nonetheless, when I do get into the groove, I stop worrying about theory and the music takes care of itself. BTW learning music theory has turned into music appreciation and with that material internalized I get a LOT more out of great orchestral music, so it's not all downside.
I wonder if storytelling might be similar? There is the "flow state" that people talk about so much. What if you just started writing about your characters and see what happens? Possibly do a James Joyce and jot down everything that crosses the stage of your mind (stream of consciousness).
With music, eventually I get out of the music's way and the performance takes care of itself. This is the experience that I understand as flow - the music is coming
through me and I am merely a channel. Or more accurately, the entity I call "myself" who hauls around this body that looks like an older and skinnier version of my drivers license photo - he's just off the map and it's all music. No instrument, no audience, no performer. Just music. It's possible that if you give yourself permission to write without regard to whether it's awful, grand, or mediocre - the writing will take care of itself as your characters eventually come to life for you. The trick (for me, at least) is to write for the sake of writing, and not for the sake of creating good prose. The product of good creative work is never quite what was intended, and sometimes the artist himself is less than thrilled with the output, but the audience adores it. Or possibly I am full of shit. Your call, of course.
