A letter game involves the exchange of written letters, or e-mail

E-mail

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

s, between two or more participants. The first player writes a letter in the voice of a newly created character; in this first letter, the writer should establish their own identity and that of their correspondent, should set the scene, and should explain why they and their correspondent must communicate in written fashion. In subsequent letters, plot and character can be developed, but the writers should not talk about plot outside of the letters and the characters should never meet. Letter games can be a writing exercise or a form of collaborative fiction

Collaborative fiction

Collaborative fiction is a form of writing by a group of authors who share creative control of a story.Collaborative fiction can occur for commercial gain, as part of education, or recreationally - many collaboratively written works have been the subject of a large degree of academic research.-...

Novels written using or inspired by this type of letter game include Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, The Grand Tour or The Purloined Coronation Regalia, and The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After, all three by Patricia Wrede

Patricia Wrede

Patricia Collins Wrede is an American fantasy writer from Chicago, Illinois.The eldest of five children, she graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in Biology, married James Wrede in 1976 , and obtained an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977.She finished her first book in 1978,...

 and Caroline Stevermer

Caroline Stevermer

Caroline Stevermer is a writer of young adult fantasy novels and shorter works. She is best known for two series of historical fantasy novels.With Patricia C...

; Freedom and Necessity, by Steven Brust

Steven Brust

Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the writers' group The Scribblies, which included Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, Nate Bucklin, Kara Dalkey, and Patricia Wrede; he also belongs to the Pre-Joycean...

 and Emma Bull

Emma Bull

Emma Bull is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She has participated in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe, which is the setting of her 1994 novel Finder...

; and the children's books P.S. Longer Letter Later

P.S. Longer Letter Later

P.S. Longer Letter Later is an epistolary novel written by Paula Danziger and Ann M. Martin in 1998.It is a novel in letters and is written as a year-long correspondence between two twelve-year-old girls, Tara*Starr and Elizabeth.-Plot:...

and Snail Mail No More

Snail Mail No More

Snail Mail No More is a book published in 2000 by Paula Danziger and Ann M. Martin. It is the sequel to P.S. Longer Letter Later.-Plot:Snail Mail address...

by Paula Danziger

Paula Danziger

Paula Danziger was a U.S. and e.u. children's author. She grew up in Metuchen, NJ. She lived in New York City and in Bearsville, NY...

 and Ann M. Martin.

See also

• constrained writing
  Constrained writing
  Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern.Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form....
  
  
• epistolary novel
  Epistolary novel
  An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
  
  
• Play-by-mail game
  Play-by-mail game
  Play-by-mail games, sometimes known as "Play-by-post", are games, of any type, played through postal mail or e-mail. One example, chess, has been played by mail for centuries . Another example, Diplomacy, has been played by mail since the 1960s, starting with a printed newsletter written by John...
  
  
• Talecraft
  Talecraft
  Talecraft is a Philippine based story-telling card game developed by Ria Lu. It aims to promote the creation of stories by means of randomly picked cards that decide the key elements of the author's narrative. It is currently being published by Komikasi Enterprise.-Game mechanics:The card set is...
  
  , story-telling card game