Tutorial 3 - what makes a successful letter-writer?

A successful letter-writer must overcome human inertia by putting words on paper. A tough job! Good letter-writers are extremely rare, but here’s how you can spot one.

Look for:

• An enthusiastic person who really understands human nature and has the capacity to get excited about a new discovery, or angry about injustice, or appalled at poverty.
• A good writer must be a psychologist and must understand the basic drives of personality.
• A good writer must be able to deal in universal feelings – not just his or her own personal feelings. Whenever you hear someone say, ‘I would never read that kind of letter’, you know right away that person is still thinking subjectively, rather than objectively.
• Look for a person who can tell a straightforward story with a beginning, middle and an end. A lot of writers can string together long words, but a good fundraising writer must be able to tell a story.

One major purpose of these tutorials is to help writers learn the techniques of storytelling and discover how to get outside their own skin and motivate people – all by putting words on paper.