Newport News

'At a Loss for Words? Use a Template'
March 12, 2004
Author: Dru Sefton
c.2004 Newhouse News Service

Mindy Sullivan had big news to tell. She just didn't know how to write the important letter.

"My daughter made a quick decision to marry her fiance before he shipped off to Iraq," Sullivan said. The couple had planned a long engagement; Sullivan's large family was looking forward to a joyous formal wedding.

"It was real hard to put into words how to tell everyone my daughter was married," said Sullivan, of Auburn, Calif. "Unfortunate sadness, but such good news to go with it."

So she used a letter template.

Thousands of people now use templates of letters, speeches, toasts -- even eulogies and love notes -- instead of taking time and effort to pen their own words.

Proponents say templates provide valuable guidance. Creativity experts disagree, one even saying she's "horrified" by the trend.

For Sullivan, a template was a necessity.

"I am an idiot when it comes to writing letters," she said. "I can sit for days and nights, go to bed thinking about it, rewrite it and trash it a thousand times" -- and still be disappointed with the result.

Now Sullivan belongs to www.libraryonlineinc.com. For $39.95 annually, she has access to more than 500 templates: personal letters, business letters, spiritual letters, love letters (excerpt: "Since you came into my life, you have shown me the meaning of true love. A love I never knew existed. You gave my life new meaning").

President Emilie Johnston of Calgary, Alberta, said Library Online Inc., founded in 2000, has been "extremely successful," drawing thousands of members.

Five writers pen missives that range from professional to sentimental. Letters appear on the site with blanks that members complete. They may add or delete words, lines or paragraphs, then print or e-mail the finished product.

The database is continually updated. "Things change in our lives," Johnston said. "Today you might need a resignation letter; tomorrow you might need to write a letter to your father who's dying and you haven't spoken to in 14 years."

Johnston doesn't see the service as cheating.

"People don't object to greeting cards to help express their feelings," she said. "Basically these letters are helping them along. A greeting card can't change. With these letters, it gives you a little path to go down, and some good ideas."

Brenda Robertson, director of the Writing Center at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, disagrees: "I feel like it's impersonal and insensitive. I'm horrified."

Letter templates are a cop-out, Robertson said. "Any kind of expression of emotion needs to come from within. There are some things that can inspire us, like the thought of the first moment we saw someone, or a first kiss. But the letter templates? I don't want one of those letters, do you?"

Beth Hennessey, a psychology professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts who studies creativity, said templates deny users a valuable experience.

"I certainly believe, and most of us who study this believe, that all of us have the potential to be creative," Hennessey said. "What makes me sad about the templates is, yes, they may be saving themselves the toil and trouble, but they are missing out on the incredible satisfaction and joy of engaging in the creative process."

But some people need help with that process, said Jan Shepardson, owner and author of Loving Eulogies in Gilbert, Ariz.

Shepardson has been offering eulogy templates through www.lovingeulogies.com since 1999. She's sold thousands, she said, to clients in North America, Europe, Australia, even Asia.

Customers may purchase 30 "ready to use" eulogy templates and a writing guide for $19.95. Templates include eulogies for everyone from a family member to a neighbor, co-worker or "curmudgeon."

"Often, people just need a starting point," Shepardson said. "They have something they want to say but need the proper format and need to know what's acceptable."

The Instant Speech Builder also helps get writers started. David Slack, who worked as a speechwriter for former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, offers templates at www.speeches.com. Users answer questions to create a speech.

Members join for $19.95 for one month, or unlimited access to speech topics for $14.95 plus $2.95 per subsequent month. "Many thousands" of people have used the service since it went online in 1995, Slack said.

"Everyone has plenty of stories to tell and things to say, but when they go to assemble a speech they freeze," Slack said from his home in Auckland, New Zealand.

With the speech builder, users "unfreeze -- they take a step at a time until they've built a full speech."

It's "a good framework that's still flexible enough to allow that personal imprint," Slack said.

Sean Kelly of Brooklyn, N.Y., doesn't offer a framework, he wants people to just take his "Toasts for All Occasions: 200 Reasons to Raise Your Glass." The boxed set of toasts come on palm-sized cards to tuck into a tux pocket or little handbag.

Because "sooner or later," Kelly said, "you find yourself called upon to do something you have no idea how to do": make a toast in front of lots of people.

He has no problem with anyone using any of the various templates, or the toasts in his box. We need the help, that's obvious to him.

It's almost as if we're "advancing into a post-literate age," Kelly said, returning to the concept of the village scribe. "In many parts of the world, a guy sat in the village square with a pen or typewriter. If you wanted a letter or poem, you went to him. That was his job.

"It's like we're getting back to having scribes. None of us knows how to put things into words anymore. We've gone past that."