Thank you all for your input, it is very helpful and greatly appreciated. Happy collecting all.

Robert

Depends how much I've seen them in. I try to never fill LESS than an A4 page, hand written.

In other cases, to stars I've loved for years, such as Stephen Fry, Chris Barrie, I filled both sides of A4, and they replied with personalisations.

Another, I've sent just a single side A4 to Alan Davies saying how I think he's hilarious, truly great to watch, and he replied with a personalised autograph, and a short note on the back thanking me for my kind words, that was more personal as it was just signed 'alan'. The autograph was his actual one though

rwperkins wrote:Thank You, that is kind of what I have been doing, but on a much shorter scale. I have been worried that mine have been to long, but if you are using four paragraphs, then my two paragraphs shouldn't be to long. Maybe I need to add a bit more to mine.

Robert

Mine aren't LONG either.. Maximum front and back of an A4 paper... most of the time just the front, and a bit on the back but not much more

To the op, in my opinion, the ''short letter'' rule is the greatest fallacy in ttm autograph collecting. Now, the reality is most celebs probably do not even read fanmail. So you're probably wondering why even bother with writing a good letter? Well a while ago, a band tour manager posted on here. He said that ALL fanmail sent to the concert venue goes through him. If he feels that the person requesting the auto is an ''ebayer'',he bins it. No ifs or buts. Now,it is reasonable to presume that such a policy applies via database addys. Whilst they may only send out pre-signed pics, I think they still scan the fanmail to remove the ''ebayers''. For example, nowing that two prominant singers frequently send out autos pre-signed, I decided to simply write a paragraph for each request. Guess what? Never heard back from either of them.
Also,if you decide to send vv, it seems to be the go for a more ''personal'' response from a movie star for various reasons. I cannot fathom why you would waste the chance of getting a once in a lifetime response for the sake of writing a ''short letter''? My two best andd most cherished responses ever came from, you guessed it, two page-letters sent vv. The first was Gemma Arterton. I had only seen her in ONE movie at that point, but I absolutely loved her in it, and wrote a passionate two page letter. As a result, she paid for postage, supplied a signed picture AND wrote me back a note thanking me,and answering my five questions. The second was Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto. She had only ever been in the aforementioned movie at this point,but I was still able to write a two page letter. I wrote about myself, about why I love her as a person (beauty,talent, a sweet personality), slumdog millionaire and requested my items signed. Each of those topics was roughly half a page. She replied by signing and personalissing all my items with beautiful dedications (even ones that I did'nt intend on being signed!), wishing me a very happy birthday and wrote me back a short,but very very kind and sweet note on the back of one of my pics. Oh,and she supplied the return envelope,paid for postage and included cardboard so it would not bend! Why did these two beautiful stars go out of their way to give me such a wonderful reply? They are obviously extreamly kind people, but it's because I went out of my way to write a heartfelt letter!
Good luck

I think the length of your letter depends on who you're writing to. If it's a B- or C-lister then you can write a novel and they'll read it because they're grateful for fanmail. Write to anyone of popularity and you should stick to short and sweet to increase the chances that they'll actually read what you say and not just skim to the bottom to find out what you want.

I have too say the longer the letter, the more of a chance of a better responce.
I write my letter half a page long. Some celebs gets tons of letters a day so, i dont write alot of stuff that might be boring to them lol

I hand write all my TTM letters and make them at least 5 paragraphs long, that's usually enough to fill both sides of a standard 8x11 peice of paper. So far, I've received some pretty amazing responses back.

RYAN J.

Depending on who I'm writing to, my letters tend to be about 3/4 to 1 page long. I don't like to go longer than 1 page, because these are busy people we're writing to.

Thank You, that is kind of what I have been doing, but on a much shorter scale. I have been worried that mine have been to long, but if you are using four paragraphs, then my two paragraphs shouldn't be to long. Maybe I need to add a bit more to mine.

Robert

wrong forum to ask this... but I'm gonna give you some pointers that I always use:

"Dear person you're writing to,

Paragraph 1: Introduce yourself, say who you are, what you do...
Paragraph 2: Tell them how you know them, why you like them, what you like about them...
Paragraph 3: ask nicely for an autograph, mention your full address, respect the fact that they may be busy
Paragraph 4: thank them for taking the time to read your letter and finish up

Kind Regards,
YOU"

Thats my standard for writing a lor, hope it helps