I’m fifty thousand words in to my new novel, which is titled: The Last Letter From Your Lover. As part of this book, I am including in the chapter headings examples of real-life Dear John letters – whether sent by text, email or snail mail, some of which are already burning a hole in my research folder.

Over the next few weeks I will be placing small ads in the national press, and on some social networking sites, asking for more examples. These can be anonymised, and as short as two lines (I won’t be able to include more than 100 words of any one).

If you have a Dear John that you want preserved for posterity – whether you be the sender or the recipient, whether it be funny, scabrous, offensive, or tear-jerkingly beautiful, please do email me, or post it here. I can’t pay, but I will credit every sender in the acknowledgments – that’s if they want their name to appear…details can be deleted/altered to protect the innocent.

I will post some on the website prior to publication. A few – like the man who suggested his girlfriend “take a good hard look at all the ways she had proven a disappointment to him”, had me open-mouthed, while others, such as the text which says: “Please stop standing outside my house at night crying. WE ARE OVER and you are bothering my neighbours” had me curling my toes in horror.

Who knows…it may be a little historic, but I may post one of my own…anonymously, of course.