Jay Williams wrote to the author in 1980 asking him to look at a short story he had written . A Brutally honest letter written by Roald Dahl to a teenager who asked him for advice on his A-level project has surfaced . Budding writer Jay Williams wrote to the author in 1980 asking him to look at a short story he had written . The 17-year-old did not expect a reply . But Mr Williams , who grew up near Carlisle , was delighted when he received a typed note signed by the man himself . However , in true Dahl style , there was a sting in the tail . However the letter was not what the eager teenager had expected with Dahl heavily criticising his use of 'beastly adjectives ' . The correspondence read : 'Dear Jay , You are asking too much of me . You must realise I get an awful lot of these letters and you ca n't expect me to write your thesis for you . 'It should be fairly obvious to you what the role of a short story is in modern literature . It 's a big one . 'Study particularly the American short story writers like O'Henry and Runyon and Hawthorne and Poe , and lots and lots of English ones . 'If you want any dope on me there have been an awful lot of profiles in English magazines over the past year starting with the February 1979 edition of Vogue . ' I have read your story . I do n't think it 's bad , but you must stop using too many adjectives . Roald Dahl responded saying the teenager was 'asking too much , ' but that said that he had read his story . 'Study Hemingway , particularly his early work and learn how to write short sentences and how to eschew all those beastly adjectives . 'Surely it is better to say 'She was a tall girl with a bosom ' than 'She was a tall girl with a shapely , prominent bosom ' , or some such rubbish . The first one says it all . ' Jay , who now lives in Bristol , recently found the letter while going through old boxes and posted a picture on Twitter . The image was posted alongside the caption : 'In 1980 , as a spotty teenager , I wrote to Roald Dahl asking for advice on writing . Here is his priceless response . ' Amazingly it has now been re-tweeted more than 1,700 times and has been favourited by almost 2,400 people . Jay , who set up PR company 72point , said : 'As a callow youth , I was expecting him to tell me how marvellous the story was , and offer to introduce me to his publisher . Mr Williams in his teens , left , and the celebrated author Roald Dahl , right , who replied to his letter . 'Instead he gave me this fairly forthright criticism . 'The story was for an A-Level English Literature project , and was probably really self-indulgent , overflowing with flowery adjectives , which Dahl quite rightly bristled at . 'After considering his advice , I have to admit it was probably fair and I 've taken heed of it ever since . ' I was a big fan of Dahl 's short stories aimed at adults , like Kiss Kiss . I loved their dark elements , the twist in the tale . 'Dahl 's advice has informed whatever writing style I have had since , especially in news reporting . '
Jay Williams wrote to Roald Dahl in 1980 asking him to look at story . The 17-year-old had written the short story as part of an A Level project . Mr Williams received a typed note signed by the celebrated author . Letter had sting in tail and criticised his use of 'beastly adjectives '