Typed letter or handwritten?

[Carley]

Hi there, I've only really gotten into the hobby lately and am not sure how to write my letter. Content is not a problem, but how would I format it? The only paper I have is standard white (printer) paper and loose-leaf paper. I wanted to hand write my letters, but I thought writing it on regular loose-leaf would be a little informal. I say informal because some of the celebrities that I would be writing to, like Lauren Bacall.. well, I respect them a little more than to write them using plain ol' loose-leaf.

What do/would you do?

[Tabby]

I usually write my letters on regular paper, neatly in pen. It's more personal that way. Typing it seems really formal. But I suppose it depends who you're writing to.

[khackdrums]

You make it sound like informal is a bad thing... We aren't writing to professors or potential employers, so the letters shouldn't be formal. I don't believe in the whole "handwritten is more personal" story. I personally handwrite all my requests, but I don't write many requests anymore so it doesn't bother me, plus I have very good handwriting. If you write a lot of requests, or have crappy handwriting, I suggest typing your letters.

Khackdrums

[SophieBooty]

I usually hand write my letters, that way it makes them more personal.
But if you have bad handwriting, then it would be a better idea to type them.
Sophie

[ursha]

Hey Carley!
There have been many topics about this ;) You can see one of them if you CLICK HERE.
I personally prefer to hand write them I think it's more personal and you also show a celebrities you took some time to write it down. Of course letters written on the computer can be written very personally too (there's no difference) but some people write one letter and then they do not have to spend much time on writing, you can print as many copies as you want And yes, if you have bad handwriting is typing a very good idea. But that's just my opinion ;)
Urša

[dobie516]

I send typewritten letters because I really don't have the time to hand write them anymore. My handwriting leaves a lot to be desired which is another reason.

Content should be the main objective. If you are sincere you should have better luck.

[789456123969]

i like to handwrite my letters, but sometimes i type it just to save time.

[guilder1st]

Although I agree that content is more important that anything else. I also know that certain celebrities will only respond to requests if the LOR is hand written. But success is to be had either way with the majority of celebrities. I would definitely try not to be too formal, just be respectful. Get some nice stationary if you want to hand write your letters, or just use regular plain white paper if you choose to type your letters. Some people like to decorate there letters and/or envelopes but that's a personal choice.

[x hayley x]

Hello,

I do think handwritten letters look a lot better. The celebrity can see that you have put time into your letter. It is so easy to have a pre-typed letter and just change the name for each celebrity (I know of people who do that) so handwritten would come across better in my opinion. I just use normal lined paper, I do set my requests out like a professional letter with the addresses at the top and use paragraphs etc. but I don't use "professional language" as such, I still use words like "amazing" and just any other words to describe how I feel about the celebrity and their work. Your letter should come from the heart and it shouldn't look like you're doing business with them!

I do understand why people prefer to type if they don't have good handwriting, but as a trainee teacher I have seen that if you take your time and try your hardest to shape the letters correctly then you can see a huge improvement in the neatness of it. If the person thinks their writing still isn't acceptable then I think as a last resort they can type it, as long as they take a paragraph at the start to explain why they have typed the letter.

[TwiHardPotterFan]

Also take into consideration what your hand writing looks like. If it is messy and hard to read it would be better to type the letter but if you have pretty writing then that in my personal opinion is better