Nice one mate. Keep writing! Its like learning to ride a bike - the more you do it, the better you get.
I'm gonna respond to your question to part V of my own story here.
Inspiration, huh?
If you want to get all technical, according to such learned authorities as the 19th century writer Georges Polti there are only 36 basic plots in literature. A nice clear example of the list can be found at
http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/articles/36drama.html.
So inspiration, apparently, is just a clever way of dressing up one of those plots.
I dunno if it helps but I've sort of broken down how I write a story.
I believe that the real key to it is being able to write short stories, like what we did in primary school. A fun exercise is to describe, in two pages of A4, your journey to work, and to make it interesting. Make it more interesting by being made late when you
have to get there on time.
Any longer story is pretty much a collection of short stories that are in some way connected together. For example, describe in two pages of A4 how you, having barely got to work on time, managed to avoid the office manager's...
The next bit is to dress those ideas in the clothes of the world that you are creating.
Rather than you getting to work, instead describe, for example, Soldier-Sentinel Wilhelm Brun's sudden awakening in the arms of the young lady whose affections he had negotiated the previous evening, and his frantic and semi-clad dash through the muddy streets of Kohlberg before Sergeant Muller does morning roll-call.
Another thing is to make sure you know about what you're writing about. In my own story, for example, a force of soldiers is making its way through underground tunnels to try and assault a skaven lair. In order to keep things consistent, and so I know what I'm on about, I draw loads of little sketchmaps, and usually cover them in notes too. I do lots of research on weapons and uniforms too, because its amazing how something like a line in a reference book can suddenly make you think.
And practice describing things. That always helps. Really look at things, and take note of texture and odour and colour and shape and shadow. You have to be all of the senses of the reader - sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, (and generally, though not universally, in that order too).
Little details are really important. For example, in your story Albert was standing in the wind and the rain and yet his breath is misting in the still winter air. Look out for stuff like that. The devil is always in the detail.
Keep both a dictionary and a thesarus handy when you write. I cannot emphasise this enough. If you don't have paper ones a fairly good online one is
http://dictionary.reference.com/ and its mirror
http://thesaurus.reference.com/ - be warned, they do chuck out pop-ups every now and again, and can sometimes a bit flakey. Have some fun using alternative or odd words.
If you can do all of that you're pretty much there. The inspiration part is being able to see where all of those little individual bits of story you are telling are leading to.
But that still begs the question, where do I get inspiration from?
I keep a notepad and a pen handy all of the time. Every time I get hit with inspiration I take a moment to note down a few keywords. Inspiration can be anything - a really cool explosion you saw in a movie, a wierd news story in the paper, finding the source of a strange smell, the way
you would have written
that scene from your favourite teevee series, something a friend says, a silly little sketch you draw, anything. The keywords kind of jog my memory when I'm sitting in front of my computer actually writing the story.
I hope thats of some help.
And don't be afraid to edit your work. The friendly Mods here want the best, and as far as I can tell thoroughly approve of improvements.