Though a friendly letter comes straight from the heart, there is a particular manner in which it is written. Here’s a template that tells you how such a letter is written.
The art of letter writing has been long forgotten with newer methods of communication such as the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and Facebook becoming more popular. When you can send an instant message from your BBM, why should you write a letter? It is because a letter is personal, is for keeps, and will not be lost if your system crashes or has to be formatted. That letter can be found easily if kept in a special place in your drawer, rather than looking through pages and pages of conversation history.
Though a friendly letter can be typed out, one that is handwritten is more heartfelt and personalized. Every once in a while, writing your friend a letter is a good idea, rather than updating your Facebook status and letting everyone know what is up with you. He is entitled to a little more information than that. So here’s a simple letter template for you kids, to write a nice letter to your friends.
Writing a Friendly Letter
Now, when you write a friendly letter, what you write in it is completely your choice. It could be about your superb victory in a football match, or about how you enjoyed a rich Oreo shake at a friend’s birthday party the other day. It could be about how you think reading is making you a more creative person, or how you are being forced to study things that you never will use in the future, in school. Complain, share your happiness, or just inform him about things, that you think he should know. It can also be as long, or as short as you want it to be. Since such a letter is an informal letter, there ideally should be no specific way in which it should be written. However, there are certain basic rules that you should follow when writing a letter. They include:
- Include your postal address and the date (on which you are writing the letter), so that your friend has an idea of when the events happened.
- Since it is a personal letter, you can address him as Dear XYZ.
- Start the letter by asking how your friend is doing, and then informing him of how things are with you.
- Use a number of paragraphs in the body of the letter, to update your friend about the different things you have been up to. There is no limit to how much you want to write to him.
- End your letter by mentioning how you are looking forward to hearing from him.
- Sign off by writing With Love or Yours Truly and your name.
- You can add a P.S. (Post Script) after you have signed off to provide a little tidbit of information that can be shocking or funny. You can call it saving the best for the last.
With these basics in place, here’s a simple template that you can use to write the letter.
Template |
Your Name
Your Address: Line 1 Your Address: Line 2 Date Dear (Name of Your Friend), |
Introduction |
Paragraph 1 |
Paragraph 2 |
Conclusion |
Yours Truly/With Love, Your Name |
In the template given above, it is not necessary that you include your address in it. It has however, been an age-old practice that has been used. Mentioning your address is an option and not a compulsion. While this is a basic template, here’s also a sample that you can refer to.
Sample |
Aaron Cooper
2468 Spark Avenue Washington, DC 20521-4150 March 24, 2011 Dear Lara, How are you? It has been awhile since I heard from you. I have been missing you a lot these days, so I thought I should find out how you are doing. Hope this letter finds you in the best of health. Things here are fine, though they seem to be a little boring, now that you have gone. It has been quite some time since school started, and I have been able to make some new friends who are great company. But I keep remembering how much fun we had during our summer vacations. Those long rides in the woods, the hanging out at the mall, and our video game matches, were all so much fun. Things here are a little different, and it is going to take me some time to get used to them. School is great. I have some great professors who make classes very interesting. I actually look forward to doing my homework for these classes. On the other hand, there are some really boring science classes, that I just don’t seem to enjoy. It all sounds so difficult, but I have to sit through them. A few more years, and I am going to drop these subjects forever! The good thing is that all my friends also feel the same. How have things been with you? How’s school and all those great friends you keep talking about? Did you join that guitar class you wanted to so badly? Waiting to hear from you. Keep in touch. P.S. Dad has bought me the latest video game console, and it is downright awesome! Waiting for you to come back here, so that we can have some more amazing matches. Yours Truly,
Aaron |
So now you know how to go about writing a friendly letter. Not so difficult, is it? Use it to introduce yourself to the beautiful and forgotten art of letter writing, and revive this traditional technique of getting in touch with your loved ones.