Reddit mentions of The Elements of Style

I hate to say it, but maybe you should invest some more time in reading. You will learn something about story structure from examples.

As for grammar and punctuation, there are certainly resources for that. You might also want to read this, the ebook is free.

If you can write humor, that's actually a better start than some people who have come here asking, basically, "what's funny?" That's pretty much impossible to teach, I think.

You can get the kindle version for free too! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005IT0V8O?storeType=ebooks

I honestly can not even begin to thank you enough. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much, again.

EDIT: Found The Elements of Style Kindle edition for free!

I started writing Pokémon fanfics back when I was in junior high. Now I'm 26, I'm a produced playwright with some awards under my belt, and I'm doing a second draft of my first novel.

The way you start writing is two fold.

1. Write a lot. Every day. Maybe it's ten minutes to start. Maybe you start with journaling. Just spitballing about characters, plots, whatever. That will evolve into writing actual content.
   
   
2. You need to read a lot. A lot. What do you like to read? When I was in college, I read everything from Shakespeare to Stephen King. Find an author your like. Mimic their style at first. It will evolve into your own quickly.
   
   Two books you need to read:
   
   "The Elements of Style"
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005IT0V8O?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1
   
   Free on kindle.
   
   Next is Stephen King's "On Writing." You can find that one somewhere. That book inspired me and gave me a good writer's toolbox. I still go back to both of them.
   
   Last piece of advice. Write for you. Write things that you like. At first, it won't matter what other people think because they won't be reading it. Only share stuff when you feel like getting your story broken. The good part about a broken story is that you can always fix it, but it's painful. Writing is 90% rewriting. It's what makes it feel like work.
   
   But writing is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. It got me through a lot of tough times. It still does. I would be happy to help you in any way I can. Feel free to message me privately (I'll figure out how this works on mobile).
   
   The world needs more writers because writers are adventurers.

Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IT0V8O?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

No problem! Later today, when I get some time, I'll check through my notebook. I might not have anything useful, or I might not be able to remember the exercises I was writing for, but I'll see if I can find anything.

One exercise I saw on here, actually, looked interesting. What you do is give your student an ending, and then he was to write a story from the beginning that uses the ending.

/u/oneder_woman mentioned maybe finding some things for your student to read that would help him with writing. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is really considered the most essential, authoritative book on the more technical parts of writing. I'd also recommend On Writing by Stephen King. I don't really care for King as a writer, haven't read any of his other books and don't plan to, but I think it's a great book for writers. It really helped me understand the writing process more, how you think about coming up with story ideas and then how you go about executing them and writing a story. It's a memoir about his life as a writer, but he also writes about his tips for becoming a better writer. I read it for my senior writing seminar in college, but I noticed my cousin was reading it for an AP writing class as a high school senior, so it's good for younger students too.

I've also heard Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury and The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner are good. I haven't read them personally, but I know those are two great authors.

Practice. Practice. Practice. I'd suggest starting with writing.

Try to write an article which describes some complex thing you already understand so that someone unfamiliar with the topic could also understand it. Write the first draft. Then edit it. Then edit it again. Keep editing it until you're confident that the content clearly relays the information in a concise manner. Then do it with a few more topics.

Going through this process should help train your brain to sort through many pieces of information, identify the most important ones, and translate your understanding of them into words. The more you do it, the easier it will become. As your brain gets faster at breaking down complex concepts into communicable chunks, it should eventually improve your verbal communication as well.

For a general primer on writing more clearly, Strunk and White's Elements of Style is beyond compare. The Kindle edition is currently free.