Communication of ideas

One of the best ways to learn writing is to read and write letters for newspapers and magazines. They usually are short, specific to a problem, and give views for and against the issues discussed. Imagine an article highlighting the plight of Cinderella, and the responses that might get published.

Dear Sir,
Your article on Cinderella exposes the problem of people being exploited. There should be a law to protect such people, and to punish those that are able to use cheap labour when they can easily afford to pay reasonable wages.

Dear Sir,
Your article highlights the case of Cinderella, but bear in mind, though she may work hard and be underpaid, at least she has a roof over her head, is never short of food, and doesn't have to worry about being out of a job. She should consider herself lucky. There are plenty of people who would happily be in her situation.

Dear Sir,
Your article about Cinderella simply shows how young people take everything for granted nowadays. She is young and healthy, what is to stop her leaving her present job and seeking work elsewhere. There must be plenty of employers willing to take on such a hard working person.

Dear Sir,
Although your article about Cinderella points out the problems she has as an underpaid servant, given the choice, would she prefer to be one of her ugly sisters? I would think not. We all have our problems. She must learn to live with it, or make some effort to take control of her own life, as we all have to when we grow up.

Dear Sir,
So Cinderella thinks she has a bad time does she, well just wait until she is married and has six children to look after and a lazy husband to cope with, then she'll really know what it is like to be overworked, underpaid, and not appreciated.

The various viewpoints depend upon the extent the letter writer identifies with Cinderella and her situation. Imagine letters from the following categories, and how they might express a wide range of differing views:

		Write a short letter supporting the following characters: Rumplestiltskin The Wolf who met Red Riding Hood The Ugly Duckling

Men and women read different books, as do the young and old. We know that Sherlock Holmes read a range of newspapers because he collected news items for his research. We might guess that James Bond would read magazines about fast cars, guns, wine, and the items that played a big part in his life.

Donald Duck is a practical sort of person, so he might read books on gardening, house fixing, and D.I.Y. On the other hand, Tom, of 'Tom and Jerry' seems the sort of character that would be interested in sport, happy to sit on the sofa with a can of beer and read the sport pages of the popular papers.

King Midas and Scrooge would be investors, so might read the Money pages of the serious magazines.

Henry's Cat is lazy and likes food, so would read leisure magazines, while Chris Rabbit is very active, and would read magazines about high-energy pursuits.

Search: Communicating Ideas