Fictional letter template: writing to one reader in Markdown

A letter on one Markdown page

A fictional letter template gives you room for a greeting, a body, a closing line and a signature. The body is written to one reader. Keep that letter on a .md page of its own, beginning at the title and ending at the signature.

Mark the title as invented before writing the letter beneath it. That label belongs above the greeting; the body can then stay within the invented situation without pausing to explain the fiction.

The file ending is described in an explanation of .md, including how text and Markdown marks sit together.

Greeting and paragraph spacing

Copy this empty frame into a separate .md page. Replace each bracketed phrase with your letter's wording, keeping the gaps between its parts.

# [Invented page title]

Dear [reader name],

[Opening paragraph written to that reader.]

[Further paragraph about the same subject.]

[Closing line],

[Signature]

For the title placeholder, use Invented: followed by a short title. Beneath it, the greeting names the person the letter is written to. Dear John Doe, would fit a letter to that invented person.

Use the body paragraphs for the letter itself. Write directly to the person named in the greeting, using you where it fits. Keep explanations about how you wrote the sample outside the letter block.

The closing line finishes the letter before the signature names its writer. In this frame, each sits in a separate paragraph. With thanks, is one possible closing line; the signature beneath it could be Jane Doe.

Blank lines divide those parts. For how those gaps appear in Markdown, see paragraph spacing and empty lines. Separate the signature paragraph from the closing line with another gap.

Jane Doe's garden letter

The garden visit is fictional, as are both people in this sample. Here, Jane Doe writes the entire letter to John Doe.

# Invented: The garden visit

Dear John Doe,

Thank you for taking me through your garden on Saturday. You left a narrow path between the beans and the peas, and I liked walking it with you. The red watering can beside the gate looked tiny next to those tall stems.

I have put my packet of peas beside the kitchen door. When you next come over, we can choose a patch for them along the fence. I will keep the red can ready for you.

With thanks,

Jane Doe

The greeting names John Doe once, while the body continues to speak directly to him with you and your. The two body paragraphs stay with the garden visit and a future visit. After the body, With thanks, supplies the closing line and Jane Doe supplies the signature.

Filename choice

For this garden example, try garden-letter.md. The name joins the subject, garden, to the form, letter, without putting either person's name in the filename. Keep the full letter in that single file, including its title and signature.

Details on hyphens and file endings appear in choosing names for Markdown files. If you write a different invented letter, choose a subject word that belongs to its body.

Where Sashmark fits

Reading and editing Markdown on desktop computers is Sashmark's planned purpose, aimed at people working with Markdown written by their AI agents. Still in development, Sashmark's reader and editor are planned for v1.