I can't tell you this is the best way to write. It may in fact be the most tedious and slow way to write, but it's my way.
1. Have a basic idea of what you're going to write.
Starring at a blank screen or a blank sheet of paper doesn't tend to be inspiring. You have to get out and enjoy your environment and enjoy daydreaming. Sit out at a beach, do a little exploring, read local history or whatever interests you.
Personally, I'm not a fan of forcing creativity. I think if you're forcing yourself to write a story with the mindset of "I want to be a writer so I have to do this" rather than a mindset of "I want to write this story", you're going to tie yourself up in dry prose, cliché action and bland characters.
2. Free Write out a rough sketch
I may be the only one who was given the impression that free-writing was the same as writing out my stream of consciousness, but I still feel the need to be more precise about what I mean. The big thing is that once your idea is large enough that you're at risk of forgetting the details later, you want to write these out. Don't give yourself any order to it. If you feel like imagining the entire story play out, write it out, but write it in a hurry. Don't obsess about the details. Summarize things. The characters talk about this or that. If you feel like a little dialogue is coming out, type it out . If you feel like you're at a new chapter, indicate it.
3. Flesh out the sketch one scene or one chapter at a time
At this point, will try to think of my scenes in greater detail. I'm no longer thinking of the entire book. I'm thinking of a particular chapter or a particular set of scenes. Again, I'm not focusing on the style of my prose. I'm just writing the scene out in a manner where I'm not stopping to pause over questions of style. I may switch from first person to third person. I may write out character's motivations so that later I have a better idea over who wants what. Eventually things will get vague and I'll realize I have a few more notes to add to my previous ones about the next scene or chapter. Sometimes I'll find several chapters are changed.
4. Write the first draft of the scene
Nothing I have written up to this point is what I'd consider a draft. Maybe I'm wrong in viewing it that way. But in this version, I really try to write things to as close to the quality I want. One exception is that often when I write dialogue, I often write it out with little or no physical cues. I want the conversation to go naturally, and sometimes when I'm writing things out, I can take a pause for so long that my sense of time in the scene gets messed up. So I might have a character sigh way too many times. I try to avoid that a little but excluding it and adding it later as I read through it. Sometimes, though, the conversation doesn't seem to flow without it.
5. Reread the completed scene imagining you're a reader and not the author.
I often don't get through this without revising things here and there. But, honestly, even with little bits of revising here and there, I may decide I can't stand the scene and plan a rewrite. Sometimes I'll just type out notes about what I want the rewritten scene to accomplish that this one didn't. Sometimes, if I have time, I start rewriting it, run out of time and write the rest of my notes out again. And sometimes, I'll go to another chapter intending to come back.
6. Rewrite, add scenes, move scenes, research and more
Throughout the process, I am constantly reading more about the subject I'm writing on. I might get new ideas. Sometimes I discover I need a character needs a more established relationship before an event I'm at occurs. Sometimes, I write a whole chapter and realize it doesn't fit. Maybe it's backstory that will or will not be told later. Maybe it's a scene that I know happens behind other scenes but isn't included in the final version.
7. Read entire manuscript
I have heard it is best to do this after taking a longish break from the manuscript. Afterall, you can become so familiar with the content, it's very easy to miss things. Anyway, I would print the entire thing out, and read it like a reader, highlighting and jotting very brief notes of issues I'm having with the manuscript without allowing myself to work on the issues. Then, go back, fix them.
Fixing grammar and typos at this point is meaningless if you're going to go back and revise and rewrite things.
