Here’s a writing advice piece I wrote for the Scriptwriters Network newsletter this month. Page 15.
As someone with a website and public e-mail address, I occasionally receive e-mails from aspiring writers from across the country (and even the world) who wish to find out more about breaking into Hollywood. It would be overwhelming to provide detailed responses in each case, but I try to respond to each person if I can.
There is one unexpected phenomenon that I’ve noticed with the people writing to me which I’d like to share because I think it’s particularly important to remember in today’s Internet age. What I have observed is that a surprising percentage of people write to me without providing any information whatsoever about themselves. And I mean literally zero. Sometimes not even a name.
Who are you?
Remember, we’ve never met. Imagine if you receive an e-mail out of nowhere from someone you’ve never met and know absolutely nothing about. If the e-mail provides no introduction, how would you react? Wouldn’t your guard go up? Who is this person? Are they a stalker? Are they a psycho? Are they going to chop me up into little pieces just because they caught me sleeping with their girlfriend?
As well, don’t you think the chance of a positive response would go way up if the person writing the e-mail made themselves more “human” by providing a little introduction to themselves?
This point seems obvious, and yet it comes up repeatedly. The reason I think it’s worth mentioning here is that it applies to many other situations as well. Job applications. Query letters to agents. Letters to your grandma with Alzheimer’s.
I don’t know you. Tell me who you are.
I’m certainly not saying you should provide your entire life story — and actually many people have the exact opposite problem of providing way too much information — but how about something like your name? Or what city you’re writing from if it’s not Los Angeles? Or what you’re studying or what your day job is? I don’t know — just something. A sentence or two should even be sufficient in this case.
In this Internet age of informal e-mails and social networking messages, my first piece of writing advice is to keep in mind that someone human is ultimately going to read your contact letter. Make yourself human as well.
Starting with introducing yourself. You’ll be surprised just how far it goes.
