Those generally sensible people at The Guardian have, in their infinite journalistic wisdom, seen fit to give over a quarter of a page each week in the Weekend magazine to a 'story' from Sophie Dahl.
You may know of Miss Dahl as the British model most famous for being rather larger than the average fashion model, size 14 or something and rightly praised for her curves. Until of course she decided to become rather skinny after all and now just looks like any model.
But wait, all is not lost for the girl who apparently inspired the character of Sophie (the giant's helper) in her grandfather Roald Dahl's book The BFG. She published a novella in 2003, which I have not read, and it seems that this, and having a grandfather who was a good writer is reason enough for the Guardian to commission her to fill a quarter page each week with frankly average prose. Or could I be cynical enough to think that the reason her novella found a publisher was due to, I don't know, her name? I don't know whether these 'stories' have been cut for length and that is why they are not actually stories but scenes, but I am disappointed that despite the wealth of good short prose writers in Britain, many of them unknown to the general public, The Guardian has spotlighted the writing of someone seemingly for who they are rather than how they write.
Indeed, why publish the same writer each week? - why not give us a taste of someone different in every issue. There is certainly no shortage of writers out there. Many of whom could come up with a better, cliche-free sentence than "James and Bee ran to the front door, eliciting a volley of laughter from the doorman of the next-door building." Or "Lola looked down, feigning shyness, but in her bones she already felt Fortune's smile."
She's not a bad writer. She's just not very good. Like any writer, she needs to work hard to become good. Unfortunately for her, with a grandfather like Roald Dahl, she's always going to have her work judged against his. Except, it seems, by The Guardian.
You may know of Miss Dahl as the British model most famous for being rather larger than the average fashion model, size 14 or something and rightly praised for her curves. Until of course she decided to become rather skinny after all and now just looks like any model.
But wait, all is not lost for the girl who apparently inspired the character of Sophie (the giant's helper) in her grandfather Roald Dahl's book The BFG. She published a novella in 2003, which I have not read, and it seems that this, and having a grandfather who was a good writer is reason enough for the Guardian to commission her to fill a quarter page each week with frankly average prose. Or could I be cynical enough to think that the reason her novella found a publisher was due to, I don't know, her name? I don't know whether these 'stories' have been cut for length and that is why they are not actually stories but scenes, but I am disappointed that despite the wealth of good short prose writers in Britain, many of them unknown to the general public, The Guardian has spotlighted the writing of someone seemingly for who they are rather than how they write.
Indeed, why publish the same writer each week? - why not give us a taste of someone different in every issue. There is certainly no shortage of writers out there. Many of whom could come up with a better, cliche-free sentence than "James and Bee ran to the front door, eliciting a volley of laughter from the doorman of the next-door building." Or "Lola looked down, feigning shyness, but in her bones she already felt Fortune's smile."
She's not a bad writer. She's just not very good. Like any writer, she needs to work hard to become good. Unfortunately for her, with a grandfather like Roald Dahl, she's always going to have her work judged against his. Except, it seems, by The Guardian.
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