Megan Griffith-Greene writes the kind of love letters that make people swoon — but not for her. Though she recently retired from the practice, she was once a modern-day Cyrano, ghostwriting letters for the romantically challenged.

It started by accident, when a lovesick chap stumbled onto Griffith-Greene’s freelance writing website and asked for help. Before long, she was answering ads on craigslist and crafting love letters, wedding speeches and other personal correspondence at $150 a pop.

“It was ridiculously fun and actually pretty easy,” she says. As research for her letters, 31-year-old Griffith-Greene would spend up to an hour on the phone with her clients — all of whom were men — digging for anecdotes.

“You can’t write a vague love letter that’s any good,” she says. “There has to be some kind of ‘I remember the time we danced together under the moonlight’ that actually came from their relationship.”

Since Griffith-Greene only communicated with clients by email or phone, there was an air of anonymity that allowed them to speak openly. “It was like I was their therapist or their confessor,” she says. She knew only what her clients told her and, in return, they had no idea she was lounging around in her bathrobe and listening to The New Pornographers while crafting their letters.

Griffith-Greene says writing love letters for someone else is easier than writing your own, in the same way it’s easier to clean someone else’s house. “Few people can actually make sense of their relationships when they’re in them with the sort of clarity that makes a really powerful piece of writing,” she says.
Luckily, Griffith-Greene has tips for those brave enough to make the effort:

Be specific. Instead of trying to write your lover’s life story, stay focused on a small handful of memories or traits you love about them. One tightly written page is better than six rambling ones.

Make ’em laugh. While this isn’t the time to test out your stand-up material, a touch of humour will keep the letter from being sappy and intense all the way through.

Then make ’em swoon. Limit the number of cheeseball clichés used, but don’t eliminate them completely. Griffith-Greene concludes, “Everyone wants that one line in the letter that says, ‘Your eyes are like stars,’ or ‘Your smile would launch a thousand ships.’”