It Was A Dark And Stormy Night
Challenge Details
The Bulwer-Lytton annual fiction contest is one of the funniest writing contests around.
Since 1982 the English Department at San Jose State University has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. The contest ... was the brainchild (or Rosemary's baby) of Professor Scott Rice, whose graduate school excavations unearthed the source of the line "It was a dark and stormy night." Sentenced to write a seminar paper on a minor Victorian novelist, he chose the man with the funny hyphenated name, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who was best known for perpetrating The Last Days of Pompeii, Eugene Aram, Rienzi, The Caxtons, The Coming Race, and--not least--Paul Clifford, whose famous opener has been plagiarized repeatedly by the cartoon beagle Snoopy.
Bulwer-Lytton Site
The contest has a sub-set for sci-fi/fantasy opening lines, but they don't really capture that je ne sais quoi (perhaps, the je ne wanna say quoi) of Tolkien fanfic.
So, here's the challenge:
Write the single best opening line for the worst fanfic story ever. One sentence. In that sentence shall be everything you need (and do not wish) to know about the story. Sentences that are both perfect and perfectly terrifying glimpses into the tale that comes afterwards.
Challenge closes May 15, 2004.
Entries with Stories
The following authors have entered a story in the Challenge.
- acacea - First Meetings and Other First Lines
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 04 Jun 04
- For the "It was a dark and stormy night" challenge - Opening lines to make the most tolerant of readers cringe.
- Ainu Laire - Joys of Crossovers, The
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 27 Apr 04
- Entry for 'It was a dark and stormy night' challenge. The joys of bad-ficness...
- Alawa - Taste of Things to Come, The
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 20 Mar 04
- It is a truth universally acknowledged that the aspiring fanfic writer must learn to grab the reader's attention from the very first line.
- Cold Like Fire - Darkness of the Dark Land, The
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 04 Jun 04
- Written for the "It was a Dark and Stormy Night" challenge. One word: HORRIBLE.
- Dwimordene - On Dragons
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 14 May 04
- Bilbo learns something new about dragons. I learn that it is harder to write badfic than it looks.
- Ëarmírë - Blunted Barbs
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 17 Mar 04
- Badficness.
- Elana - Birds and the Bees and Other Atrocities, The
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 23 Mar 04
- For the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" Challenge. You have been warned.
- Elena Tiriel - ET's Famous First Lines
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 13 Feb 07
- Written for the "It was a dark and stormy night" challenge, these are the opening lines of stories that you never want to read... Chapter 1, "Chance Meeting" is apropos to the Anti-Valentine's Day Quickie (challenge)....
- Elvenesse - Horror Amassed
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 27 Jan 05
- I'm probably bad at writing bad opening sentences, I don't know if that's even possible, so here's my contribution to the 'It Was a Dark and Story Night Challenge'.
- Erin's Daughter - Alas for the written word
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 16 Mar 04
- Assorted nonsense from someone who is supposed to be doing something useful
- Forodwaith - First Lines Rejected... with Great Force
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 17 Mar 04
- Entries for the Dark & Stormy Night challenge. Suitably awful, I hope.
- Jedishampoo - Purple Proses
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 15 Mar 04
- My answers to the "It was a dark and stormy night" challenge. I'm sure I've been guilty of something like these before; it comes with the territory of the stuff I write. I think two is more than plenty.
- lindelea - It Was A Dark and Stormy Night
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 18 Mar 04
- Midnight musings for the "Dark and Stormy Night" challenge
- LOTR lover - As you know, Elrond...
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 16 Mar 04
- For the "Dark and Stormy Night" challenge.
- M. Sebasky - Some Nuzguls Just Need Killin'.
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 18 Mar 04
- For the Worst opening line of the Worst Fanfic EVAH challenge. A few of the worst I can imagine. Well, not true. I can imagine worse. In fact, I think I've read worse but I was most likely drunk at the time.
- Nerdanel - Borrowed First Lines
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 30 Mar 04
- When authors are really uncreative, they borrow best lines from great authors. My apologies to the great authors, deceased or living, whose wonderful first lines I am destroying. For the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" challenge.
- Ranger1 - Slash Unread
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 17 Jan 12
For the "It was a dark and stormy night." challenge. All rated for adults. This is your last warning.
- Sphinx - Ai, Eru. Run!
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 18 Mar 04
- One-line badfic.
Run, o brave ones!!! - Tehta - Stories Spawned by Sauron
- Adult Audience
- Last Updated: 29 Mar 04
- My possible entries for the 'worst first lines' challenge. Warnings for: OOCness, bad writing, immature handling of adult matter, and general stupidity.
- Vulgarweed - Frodo's Forsaken Flight
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 17 Jan 12
For the "Dark and Stormy Night" challenge. Now with more selections!
- Werecat - Song of Huneleluya
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 16 Mar 04
- An opening line for the "Dark and stormy night" challenge.
- XNemesis - Not Quite a Dark and Stormy Night
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 30 May 04
- For the "It was a dark and stormy night" challenge. Read if you are brave enough to handle the badfic-ness of it!
Placeholders
The following authors have entered a placeholder in the Challenge.
- Viv
- Entry Date: 14 Mar 04
