Review the assignment guidelines. If you're writing a short story essay for a class, review the assignment sheet and ask the professor for clarification on anything you are unsure of. List on a separate sheet of paper the exact requirements of the essay so you know exactly what is expected of you.
Brainstorm the topic of your short story essay. List some of the topics that you're interested in. Draw a rough sketch of your ideas on a scrap piece of paper. Cross out topics that don't fit within the assignment guidelines when you're finished. Eliminate topics that are too broad in scope (that are in-depth and occur over several years or decades) or too narrow in scope (something that occurred in less than a minute).
Choose one to three of your topics and free write the elements of the short story. Write down the main idea of each story in a sentence. List all of the critical pieces of the story. Ideally, you want to write a story that can be completed in 1,000 words, so you don't want to choose a topic that has more or less than three to five critical pieces to the story.
Choose the topic that you most want to write about that fits within the assignment guidelines. Outline the short story into specific paragraphs, using specific details to support each paragraph. Review your outline and add details where details are lacking, and subtract details where you've explained too much.
Write the short story essay using the outline as a guide. Write the story off the top of your head without paying attention to grammar, spelling, or if you've said too little or too much. Save the essay and set it aside when finished. Use the word count feature on your word processor and record the amount of words you have.
Return to the essay in two days and re-read it out loud. Delete unnecessary details and add details in places that might not be clear to your reader. In this stage, you are looking at the ideas, so don't worry about grammar and mechanics or you might get distracted. Review your word count when finished.
Check your grammar and mechanics, looking specifically at punctuation and spelling. Print a copy of your short story essay and mark errors. Return to your essay and fix these errors. Review your word count one last time. Trim any last unnecessary sentences, or add sentences that add to the story to reach your 1,000 word count.