Here at the Mind’s Elbow, I spend a lot of time
worrying over words and fretting over phrases.
Not today…
For I've got less than a month to create the worst
sentence of my life!
Why don’t you join me?
Admit it, you've always dreamed of entering a contest that
rewarded bad writing for a change.
Well, dream no more.
All you need is one agonizingly long, painfully
poorly-written sentence by June 30th.
The Bulwer-Lytton
Fiction Contest, put on by the San Jose State University English
Department, has been going strong since 1982.
Their website describes it as a whimsical literary
competition challenging entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst
of all possible novels.
For inspiration, look no further than the contest’s
namesake.
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton is the guy who penned this
famous line back in 1830 —
“It was a dark and
stormy night; the rain fell in torrents —
except at
occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept
up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the
housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled
against the darkness.”
If you have a headache right now, you are not alone.
So, get your wretched writing game on and check out last
year’s winners here.
By the way, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton is also credited
with this famous line —
“The pen is
mightier than the sword!”
And with killer sentences like his…
I don’t doubt it one bit.
PROMPT: Hmmm… It was a shark and stormy
night… Yep — Sharknado: The Literary Edition.
Write (poorly) on!
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