The broader question is, why do authors insist on writing letters in stories when they have no damn clue how to do so?

I said it repeatedly, the knowledge how to compose a decent letter is becoming increasingly rare, for the simple and obvious reason that no one writes letters anymore. Which is a pity (or alright, if you never cared anyway), but then don't try to use them in stories. There was this really bad example of a story where letters were supposed to bear the main share of the plot line, and the entire thing became ridiculous when per reasoning within the plot the letters had to be sophisticated, but in truth read like something a child wrote.

Every time I stumble over what people think is a letter in stories I roll my eyes and wish they'd been taught writing letters in elementary school. That above example is just one. Well-written letters are an own form of creative writing, just like a novel or a short story is, with its own rules. Badly written letters are emails


(Back then, I left a review for the linked story, telling the authors just that, but for some reason, I never got a reply )

Spoiler

You have a problem.

And that problem is, that a letter written by a character in a story cannot be better than a letter the author would write in real life.

And you cannot write letters.

It reads like written by a five-year-old, awkward, clumsy, unstructured, and displaying a distinct lack of either natural talent, or acquired skill. Frankly, it's a piece of crap.

Now that wouldn't be so bad, because A) no one writes letters in RL anymore, so it's not like you *need* to know how to properly compose a letter and lay down your thoughts on paper, and B) it's Harry, who could display a terribad penmanship, I suppose.

However, since the story is centred around those letters, it drags the story down, and what's even worse, apparently the letters are *supposed* to be good.

They are not.

I can only repeat that. It's ridiculous when the editor Witherspoon reasons that the letter is well-crafted, so it cannot possibly be written by Harry; when in truth, it reads exactly like written by a child, and one with no writing skills whatsoever at that.

.

If you want to get a feel for writing letters, you could try reading an epistolary novel; I personally recommend Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liaisons dangereuses". You will see how it is miles away from what "Harry" produces.

This, however, doesn't work - the idea isn't bad, but the execution really is.