Bulwer–Lytton Fiction Contest
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Bulwer–Lytton Fiction Contest
OR:
Bulwer–Lytton Fiction Contest on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

__NOTOC__ The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) is a tongue-in-cheek contest, held annually and sponsored by the English Department of
San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...
in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. Entrants are invited "to compose the
opening sentence At the beginning of a written work stands the opening sentence or opening line. The opening line is part or all of the opening sentence that may start the lead paragraph. For older texts the Latin term " incipit" (it begins) is in use for the very ...
to the worst of all possible novels" – that is, one which is deliberately bad. According to the official rules, the prize for winning the contest is "a pittance". The 2008 winner received $250, while the 2014 winners' page said the grand prize winner received "about $150". The contest was started in 1982 by Professor Scott E. Rice of the English Department at
San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...
and is named for English novelist and playwright
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secret ...
, author of the much-quoted first line " It was a dark and stormy night". This opening , from the 1830 novel ''
Paul Clifford ''Paul Clifford'' is a novel published in 1830 by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It tells the life of Paul Clifford, a man who leads a dual life as both a criminal and an upscale gentleman. The book was successful upon its release. It i ...
'', reads in full: The first year of the competition attracted just three entries, but it went public the next year, received media attention, and attracted 10,000 entries. There are now several subcategories, such as detective fiction,
romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pr ...
s,
Western novel Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...
s, and
purple prose In literary criticism, purple prose is overly ornate prose text that may disrupt a narrative flow by drawing undesirable attention to its own extravagant style of writing, thereby diminishing the appreciation of the prose overall. Purple prose i ...
. Sentences that are notable but not quite bad enough to merit the Grand Prize or a category prize are awarded Dishonorable Mentions.


Winning entrants

The winning entries are available at the contest website.


Collections

Six books collecting the best BLFC entries have been published: * ''It Was a Dark and Stormy Night'' (1984), * ''Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"'' (1986), * ''Bride of Dark and Stormy'' (1988), * ''It Was a Dark & Stormy Night: The Final Conflict'' (1992), * ''Dark and Stormy Rides Again'' (1996), * ''It Was a Dark and Stormy Night'' (2007), An audio cassette of the winning entries in the BLFC was also released: * ''It Was a Dark and Stormy Night'' (1997), audio cassette, .


See also

*
Purple prose In literary criticism, purple prose is overly ornate prose text that may disrupt a narrative flow by drawing undesirable attention to its own extravagant style of writing, thereby diminishing the appreciation of the prose overall. Purple prose i ...
*
Lyttle Lytton Contest Adam Cadre (born February 5, 1974, in Silver Spring, Maryland) is an American writer active in a number of forms—novels, screenplays, webcomics, essays—but best known for his work in interactive fiction. Biography Cadre's 1998 piece ''Photop ...
, a derivative favoring extremely short first sentences *
Bad Sex in Fiction Award ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years by ...
run by ''
Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years by v ...
'' magazine *
Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year The ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, originally known as the Diagram Group Prize for the Oddest Title and commonly known as the Diagram Prize, is a humorous literary award that is given annually to a book with an unusu ...
* International Imitation Hemingway Competition


Notes


External links


Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest web site

"From Worst to First: Literary Award Marks the Pits of Prose"
Chronicle of Higher Education News blog (2007) {{Edward Bulwer-Lytton Culture of San Jose, California San Jose State University Humorous literary awards Writing contests Recurring events established in 1982 Edward Bulwer-Lytton