The second introduction you’ve written is what I have been using so far, but I like the first one more! Honestly, the idea of thinking about the receiver as a friend is definitely useful. I will try putting it into practice with the next postcard I send!!
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I’ll definitely start the corpus of the postcard on the same line of the greeting, otherwise I just run out of space way too quickly!!
Now that you mentioned a person having no prompts… Do you prefer people having prompts or suggested topics in his profile or is that something that you don’t really mind that much?
You’ll learn it by practicing 
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I definitely prefer profiles with prompts because I think prompts show a bit about the person’s personality. I don’t have trouble of thinking of things to write, but I’d love to write something a person is interested in reading (or not, if they don’t care about the message).
Do you think it’s easier whether you have a prompt or not/does it make a difference?
Thank you so much for the welcoming!!
Indeed, I am a VERY formal writer - I’m even a too formal speaker for my country’s standards! It’s a bit problematic when it comes to the postcards, since it makes me run out of space even before I started with the actual topic. Thank goodness I tend to write it on a paper first! Also, skipping niceties will probably be the best for me, at least until I get used to telling an anecdote in 5 lines or less. If there’s anything to congratulate on, it will have to wait until the end of the message!
And thank you so much for the suggestion about Round Robins! I’ll definitely check them out, because I am seeing that “official” postcards are SLOW indeed, specially so with the limited number when you start new!
@mchay
I tend to have a tiny handwriting, specially so if I am trying to fit a lot of text in a limited space, but I still end up having to cut the text short. I have also thought about the option of sending a poem, or a fragment of a poem, or something like that (if the person’s profile makes me feel that they would be pleased with that), specially since translating is one of my hobbies and I enjoy translating previously untranslated poems written in my native tongue, but I still haven’t put that one into practice.
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I have only come upon one person who had a promp in his profile. It made things easier, but it might have been because it was something I also found interesting (a sentence in another language with its translation to English). I think I might find it even more useful if the person also mentions some of their hobbies or interests in their profile - that way, I find it easier to connect with the person.
But truth is that there are so many, unique people in this platform, and there are many ways in which a person’s profile could make me come up with a topic to write about. I guess my main issue is how to start on said topic since, as I have said, by the time I finish with the formalities I have usually ran out of space! From now on I’ll try the “jumping right in” method, as if I were sending it to a friend. Hopefully that will make things easier!
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Hello. This is a great question, and one that many of us have struggled with. I usually start my greeting with “Hello, name. This card comes from Canada, from the province of Saskatchewan, and from the city of *****.” I’ll often add a fun fact about Canada, or the province, or my city. Even though I have tiny printing, I find the postcard space limited, so I agree with skipping the pleasantries like “Hope you are doing well” and just jumping right into the story about the snail.
Welcome to Post Crossing. It is slow to begin with, but you will build momentum as time goes on, and have a great time, chatting with people all over the world.
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Usually the topics I write are
- how long I live in the country I’m in at the moment and what I do
- if the profile is really informative but our hobbies/interests don’t match I usually ask a question ( let’s say they love to travel - where is your favorite place you traveled to/if I visit your country can you recommend me a place to visit ? ) but if they ask the question about a city that I will recommend . I usually write for the city I’m in but write about a tourist " attraction " that not everyone will know or will visit because is not visited as much as some places in the city
- if the profile wants postcards that are really specific postcard I try to say sorry and explain why I choose this postcard since is usually similar to the postcard they want but I don’t have the exact theme ( example is they want black and white postcards )
- profiles that sometimes inspire me I decided instead of only one postcard to send them a letter with the postcard and something extra like pack of tea , ticket ecs …
- the other profiles you can find they really like decorated postcards so in this case I only write " Hello ( name ) " then a short message why I decided to decorate the postcard and at the end " Happy postcrossing " and the card is mostly filled with stickers , washi tapes ecs …
- and the last profiles that I even find difficult are the profiles that don’t have any information what they want , no name … literally nothing but have 10 000+ postcards send/received . I try to get inspired by their favorite postcards . In that case I usually write my first usual message on the list to this person and why I choose this card if there is place
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Hi Lucia! Welcome to the wonderful world of Postcrossing!
I’ll start by saying that whatever you want to write is absolutely fine. Just go with whatever works for you, and whatever you think the recipient will appreciate.
My default opening is a simple “Hi [Lucia]! How are you today?” I ask because I’m genuinely interested, and I’ve had some great conversations with people in the messages after they’ve registered the card based on their answer to that simple question.
After that, you can go wherever you want! Pretty much anything you write after that makes sense, just as it would in an informal spoken conversation:
- Hi [Lucia]! How are you today? Guess what - I saw an awesome cute snail this morning…
- Hi [Lucia]! How are you today? I’m Rob and I live in Wales…
- Hi [Lucia]! How are you today? Do you like cake? I’ve been baking a lot recently…
- Hi [Lucia]! How are you today? Best wishes for your upcoming birthday! Have you got any exciting plans? I went to the zoo for my last birthday…
- Hi [Lucia]! How are you today? I’ve just finished reading [a book by an author]. It was great! What was the last book you read?..
If you’re worried about the lack of space on the postcard, then asking questions is a great way to keep the conversation going through the messages afterwards (if both you and the recipient are keen to do so, of course).
Also, given the lack of space, I never really explain why I’m writing what I’m writing. For example, if someone asks in their profile what my favourite book is, then I’ll just jump right into it and write “My favourite book is…”. The recipient knows what they wrote in their profile, so I tend not to waste space saying “I see you’d like to know what my favourite book is. Well, I think it would have to be…”
Over the years I have seen all sorts of styles to fill the back of a postcard: crammed full of as much text as possible; just a drawing of a penguin; stickerbombed; bulleted lists of facts; formal letters; written like a text message to a friend; hand-drawn maps; … The list is endless! And every single one is absolutely fine in my book (as long as you steer clear of being rude, offensive, etc.).
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@meiadeleite, is there a ‘book’ about Postcrossing? If not, this thread offers an idea for a chapter: “How to start your note to a stranger”. 
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Welcome to Postcrossing and Happy New Year.
I’ve read through this thread to see if anyone admits to being like me. Seems I’m the first to admit that I have no worries writing to a complete stranger but delay writing to friends and family. I have had a pile of Christmas letters to answer for 2 weeks, only managed to do one reply so far but have cheerfully sent off 30 postcrossing cards this year, and about to write 3 more!
I always check postcrossers received and favourites walls for AU before reading their profile. When I have a postcard that is only on their favs, I often start the card with “Hi ----, so pleased I have found a card from your favs wall.”
Other starters include a line or 2 about the birds I can see when I look up from my keyboard - right now a Rainbow Lorikeet is taking a bath in a bowl suspended in a tree and there are some doves trying to work out if it is safe to sneak some food off the table while the RL are otherwise engaged - Oops, no that was a bad idea doves…
Have a great postcrossing life!
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I hope all your (pen)friends know your name, so you don’t have to write your name all the time, remembering them who you are, where are you from, etc
I really like ‘hello from [place]’ as a greeting, it’s so simple but effective. Tells them where you’re from, while being a nice little hello from somewhere distant 
I also usually poke through the person’s profile ahead of time, so I usually have some idea of what to talk about.
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Hello Lucia! Greetings from Portland, Oregon! Welcome to Postcrossing, and to the forum.
I might start off like that
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I usually start with Hello XY
And then I introduce myself saying: My name is … I’m … years old and I am from Germany. What follows is different. If there is something on the receivers profil that I would like to write about I do that. Others ask questions on their profile so I answer those. If I send them a card I think they might like for a particular reason I write about why I chose this card…
If I really can’t think of anything I introduce myself some more and tell them about my hobbies.
I usually close with: Hope this card will find you well
They do post every month a prompt-idea on the main page. I think that can be very helpful for some.
I have no problems with writing something to a stranger in general. Only some profiles make it a bit more difficult to write something. Mainly because they have a negative vibe, but luckily that is rare. My go-to is just something like:
Greetings from [where I live]. This cards shows…
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@poetess > Thanks for the welcoming! An opening like “Greetings from ******, in Cantabria, Spain!” is definitely a good way of starting it. I am quite fond of the idea of letting people know where the card is coming from when there is no obvious indication of it in the picture.
@chaosnoneko > I have been checking some threads about promps and I have gathered a good amount of fun ideas to write about. Your idea of sending an actual letter and a token to inspiring profiles is such a good one!! I have seen quite some people around saying that they like sending and receiving tea bags, and that has honestly sparkled my curiosity. What kinds of tea do you send? And what do you do with the tea you receive? Do you add it to collections or do you actually drink it? That could be a nice idea, to send two tea bags so one can be tasted and another can be added to collection…
@rvalkass > Questions are a good idea too, specially for people with interesting profiles! It’s true that there’s quite a bit of allure in simply doing whatever you feel like on the postcard, so the receiver ends up having a ton of different approachings to postcrossing. I guess that is something that most people in this platform (unless they specifically indicate otherwise) enjoy a lot!
A reminder, @MehndiLover : have fun, be “you”, and don’t overthink it. Every card each of us receives is instantly a hit because it’s a beautiful bit of happy mail sent by a kind and caring human. 
Well, I do admit to doing that too, hehe! I get excited at writing to a stranger but might take weeks to gather the dopamine to answer the message of a friend.
I always check postcrossers received and favourites walls for AU
For AU? I don’t think I know what that means 
@Robinchen @dianaf I have seen the blog’s montly prompt, and I have also found quite an amount of prompts in different threats - and even in some websites! And seeing the general sense of them all, I think I have a better idea now of what to do in my future postcards
And @HookedonPostcards, that is a most appropriate reminder, thank you 
This whole postcrossing thingy is going to be pretty good for me to practice the idea of “just vibe” 
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