  We show how to relate the parafermions that occur in the $W_3$ string to the
standard construction of parafermions. This result is then used to show that
one of the screening charges that occurs in parafermionic theories is precisely
the non-trivial part of the $W_3$ string BRST charge. A way of generalizing
this pattern for a $W_N$ string is explained. This enables us to construct the
full BRST charge for a $W_{2,N}$ string and to prove the relation of such a
string to the algebra $W_{N-1}$ for arbitrary $N$, We also show how to
calculate part of the BRST charge for a $W_N$ string, and we explain how our
method might be extended to obtain the full BRST charge for such a string.
