A few tips:

* The fire must be hot enough to create a draft in the chimney. It's
the hot fumes rising in the chimney that pull fresh air into the
fire. After a while, the chimney itself is warm enough to keep the
draft going.

* It takes a while to get the heat into the chimney at first. I
usually let the fire run hot for the first 5-10 minutes.

* You don't want the chimney too hot or you risk chimney fires
(although don't be too scared of this - if the fire is that hot, you
probably won't be able to get near the stove comfortably anyway).
The stove shop probably has chimney thermostats. But, if the fire
isn't hot enough you risk creosote buildup. If your firebrick stays
clean, the fire is hot enough. If it blackens, it's too cool.
This, of course, is long term, ignore the black during startup.

* In my case, I have no chimney damper. If you have one, open it up
and leave it open. Use the front vents to control the fire. Leave
them wide open until the fire is well established.

When I start a fire, I do approximately this:

* one layer of crumpled newspaper. Don't skimp.

* about 4" of kindling, alternating front-back and side-side. You
want lots of airflow space here! This is where you use up all the
end cuts from those woodworking projects ;-) Rip them about 3/4 to
1" wide on the bandsaw.

* two or three small pieces of firewood.

* block intake on back of stove (else smoke escapes there; it's a
two-stage stove).

* light paper on fire. (Door remains open)

* relax and watch fire grow.

* when fire is past the smoky stage and well into the inferno stage, I
close the door and unblock the back vent. This gets the second
stage running.

* I keep the front vent wide open for 5-10 minutes to let everything
warm up, then I close it halfway and keep it there.

* When the initial firewood load has burned mostly down to coals, I
add more. You want to keep a good bed of coals going at all times;
this is actually the heart of the fire.