by Anna Brooker, England
Once you decide you’d like to become a pen pal, the next consideration is how to go about getting pals. There are several avenues to choose from when searching for pals; the obvious place being pen pal publications. Of course, finding them isn’t always an easy task if you don’t know where to look for them, but once you find one you’ll discover the pen pal network and others will materialize. Friendship books are another resource in finding pals but first you have to write to someone to get them so perhaps they should be used as a back up once you establish yourself as a pen pal. Doing searches on-line will yield numerous web sites that feature listings for snail mail as well as email pen pals.
Whether you choose the on-line sites or the pen pal publications as a starting point you have two options for finding a new pen pal; to either place ads or answer them. Simply answering someone’s request for a pal gives you control over who you write to and how many people’s ads you reply to. When you place a listing of your own, however, you could be quite surprised at the number of responses you may receive. That makes composing an ad a very important step in endeavoring to become a pen pal.
You’ll want to come up with an ad that gets you noticed, but where do you start, never having done this sort of thing before? A sensible approach would be to look at the ads in your chosen venue and decide which ones you find interesting, and conversely which ones don’t really inspire you. This should give you a basis for what you should be including or excluding in creating an appealing pen pal profile.
It’s important to give a good overall view of who you are and who you’d like to write to, and at the same time keep in mind the length of your ad. Run-on ads can be a turn off as some people may find it intimidating to write to such a rambler. You need to share enough about yourself to catch potential pals' attention, but not so much that you won’t have anything left to discuss with them once they do write you.
Things to consider adding to your profile would be hobbies, collectibles, and past times. Physical descriptions really aren’t necessary in an ad for pen pals, so it’s best to save that information until after you’ve established who you’ll write to. It’s nice to also include in your ad what you desire in a pen friend. Someone with a few common interests, and/or someone who is near your age, or perhaps you’d just like to write to other fans of your favorite soap opera or television show. These are among the things to consider including when you’re compiling your profile.
Just as it’s important not to write too much, don’t fall into the trap of writing too little. Very brief ads seem curt and won’t really inspire anyone to write, or may just result in a short correspondence where you both realize you just don’t have anything in common to talk about. Simply writing "looking for pals" will just leave people wondering "What kind of pals?" and the responses will be as limited as your listing.
Writing your listing as you would write a letter will produce a bio that shows your letter writing style and is much easier to read than just a "shopping list" sort of an ad that is ho-hum and will most likely be passed by. Taking the time to construct a profile that is thoughtful and informative is sure to get your mailbox filled.
