What Are The Best Opening Lines For Letters To Editor?

Do you have a rant? Is there someone or something you want to rave about? Or maybe you have a new idea that you just want to share with the world.

What’s the best way to let your voice be heard? A way that gets the most substantive “views” over time. A way that endures. A way that never faces the risk of getting cancelled.

Sure, the quickest way is to just blab it all through your favorite social media account. But how do you know how many people will really see it? Even putting it on your own blog doesn’t guarantee eyeballs. Unless you’re an expert on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), chances are your thoughts will make the same sound as that proverbial tree that falls in the forest when no one is around.

There’s a better way. It’s a way used for centuries. It’s a way that’s proven more effective than the most sensational viral video.

And it’s a way you can easily take advantage of.

It’s the old-fashioned “Letter to the Editor” and here’s how it works.

What is the purpose of a letter to the editor?

It’s more than just a short advertisement for your thoughts. In fact, it doesn’t always require persuasion. Sometimes it’s done simply just for you.

You can place the subject of almost any letter to the editor in one of three broad categories:

1) The Complaint Letter – This is what most people associate with letters to the editor. It’s usually triggered by a specific recent event. It could be some policy action taken on the state or federal level that restricts your freedom or ignores your rights. It could be a local incident such as something the school has done or a situation where out-of-towners have despoiled the neighborhood park. You may or may not offer a specific solution to the issue, but you want to make sure everyone is aware of it.

2) The Compliment Letter – Here you have a similar objective as with the complaint letter: you want to make people more aware of something. In this case, however, rather than exposing a negative, you want to trumpet a positive. For example, you may want to praise the performance of children in a school concert, point out the good service you received from a local business, or thank your town or village board for taking care of something that you may have earlier written a complaint letter about.

3) The Catharsis Letter – Consider this the act of cleansing your soul of something that has long been eating away at you. Whereas the compliment and complaint letters deal with present occurrences, this letter often addresses something that happened long ago. It may be nostalgic, like your high school graduation or a once vibrant business that shut down years ago. It may remind others of a notable anniversary (like the death of someone too young or an actual wedding anniversary). It could simply be a memory of something that affected you deeply. These letters may have hints of complaints or compliments, but the real purpose of them is to get something off your chest.

What does a letter to the editor consist of?

Some letters to the editor are meant to be persuasive, some informative, and some merely entertaining. Let’s tackle each of these in turn.

A persuasive letter is a miniature essay. It starts with a compelling opening line that clearly states the objective. It then describes the pitch first using an emotional appeal, then backing it up with rational reasoning (including specific facts). You’ll want to wrap this up by painting a picture that places the reader (rather than yourself) at the center. Finally, you need to give a specific call to action that includes a time that action should be made by.

An informative letter is much easier. It starts with a compelling opening line that clearly states why the reader needs to know the answers you’re about to provide. Then you cite the facts. You can actually ask the questions you expect the reader to have and then respond to that question. If you’re really good, you’ll end by telling the readers what they can do now that they know these facts. Let them see how they benefit from this knowledge.

An entertaining letter is exactly what it says it is. It’s most often funny, but it could be dramatic. Here, the three-act story structure represents the best schematic. Start with a compelling opening line that teases the story. Next, avoid any exposition and pick up the story in the middle of the action, including the instigating incident and the resultant conflict before quickly coming to the climax. End with the usual denouement. If the story has a moral, end with that.

How to write a letter to the editor that works.

Before you even get to writing, do some research. It’s important you identify two critical elements to every successful letter to the editor.

First, you need to identify your objective. Too often people make the mistake of focusing on the end goal. Rarely does a letter to the editor accomplish this. Rather, it is best used to achieve one of the smaller objectives that represent one of the steppingstones on the way to your ultimate goal. More likely than not, the letter will target one of the first steppingstones.

Second, you must identify the paper you intend to submit the letter to. Read the letters that paper prints. That will give you a sense of tone and size its editors prefer. If it’s not clear, call the paper and try to get some guidelines.

What are the best opening lines for letters to editor?

Your opening line should reflect urgency, relevance, and intrigue. Many purportedly expert formulas suggest you cite the publication (or other source) you’re addressing, state your purpose (concisely), share a personal anecdote or relevant statistic, or express a shared concern of consensus. These may be important, but they’re best suited for the body of the letter, not the opening line.

Your first sentence has only one purpose: to compel the reader to read the rest of the letter. It’s more than just grabbing their attention. It’s about pushing further into the letter.

This is how you can make your opening line stimulate readers to want to read what you’ve written.

Read that sentence again. What do you see? You see “you” (or some derivation of that word). That’s the secret to writing a killer opening line for a letter to the editor. Use it to answer the reader’s most important question: “What’s in it for me?” Do you see how the sentence immediately preceding this paragraph does that?

And that, dear reader, is probably the most influential thing you need to know about writing letters to the editor and, in fact, about writing almost anything you write.

They say, “first impressions are lasting impressions.” Your first line is your first impression. Make it a lasting one.