Editing Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

{{Short description|Tongue-in-cheek writing contest}}
__NOTOC__
The '''Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest''' ('''BLFC''') was a tongue-in-cheek contest, held annually and sponsored by the English Department of [[San Jose State University|San José State University]] in [[San Jose, California]] until 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home {{!}} The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest |url=https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Bad Writing Contest |language=en}}</ref> Entrants were invited "to compose the [[opening sentence]] to the worst of all possible novels" – that is, one which was deliberately bad.

According to the official rules, the prize for winning the contest was "a pittance".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/copy-of-about-1 |title=The rules for the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest are childishly simple |access-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831211837/https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/copy-of-about-1 |url-status=live }}</ref> The 2008 winner received $250,<ref>{{cite news|last=Hesse, Monica|title=Purple Prose? His Is Truly Bruising|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403452_pf.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 30, 2010|date=August 15, 2008|archive-date=November 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110211410/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403452_pf.html|url-status=live}}</ref> while the 2014 winners' page said the grand prize winner received "about $150".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/8990ad_768964667ebd4c2593bacbe1f6bd8716.pdf |title=2014 Contest Winners |website=The Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest |access-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-date=September 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901003735/https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/8990ad_768964667ebd4c2593bacbe1f6bd8716.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2023, the prize was "a cheap certificate and bragging rights".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contest Rules {{!}} The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest |url=https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/submit |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=Bad Writing Contest |language=en}}</ref>

The contest was started in 1982 by Professor Scott E. Rice of the English Department at [[San Jose State University]] and was named for English novelist and playwright [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Edward George Bulwer-Lytton]], author of the much-quoted first line "[[It was a dark and stormy night]]". This opening, from the [[1830 in literature|1830]] novel ''[[Paul Clifford]]'', reads in full:

{{quote|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.}}

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/contest-rules |title=Our Story |website=The Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest |access-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831211838/https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/contest-rules |url-status=live }}</ref> The contest eventually expanded into several subcategories, such as [[detective fiction]], [[romance novel]]s, [[Western novel]]s, and [[purple prose]]. Sentences that were notable but not quite bad enough to merit the Grand Prize or a category prize were awarded Dishonorable Mentions.

==Winning entrants==

The winning entries are available at the contest website.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/winners|title=Contest Winners By Year|date=2018|website=The Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest|access-date=17 December 2019|archive-date=14 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214134126/https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/winners|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Author
|-
| 1983
| Gail Cain <small>''[[San Francisco|San Francisco, California]]''</small>
|-
| 1984
| Steven Garman <small>''[[Pensacola, Florida]]''</small>
|-
| 1985
| Martha Simpson <small>''[[Glastonbury, Connecticut]]''</small>
|-
| 1986
| Patricia E. Presutti <small>''[[Lewiston, New York]]''</small>
|-
| 1987
| Sheila B. Richter <small>''[[Minneapolis|Minneapolis, Minnesota]]''</small>
|-
| 1988
| Rachel E. Sheeley <small>''[[Williamsburg, Indiana]]''</small>
|-
| 1989
| Ray C. Gainey <small>''[[Indianapolis|Indianapolis, Indiana]]''</small>
|-
| 1990
| Linda Vernon <small>''[[Newark, California]]''</small>
|-
| 1991
| Judy Frazier <small>''[[Lathrop, Missouri]]''</small>
|-
| 1992
| Laurel Fortuner <small>''[[Montendre|Montendre, France]]''</small>
|-
| 1993
| Wm. W. "Buddy" Ocheltree <small>''[[Port Townsend, Washington]]''</small>
|-
| 1994
| Larry Brill <small>''[[Austin, Texas]]''</small>
|-
| 1995
| John L. Ashman <small>''[[Houston|Houston, Texas]]''</small>
|-
| 1996
| Janice Estey <small>''[[Aspen, Colorado]]''</small>
|-
| 1997
| Artie Kalemeris <small>''[[Fairfax, Virginia]]''</small>
|-
| 1998
| Bob Perry <small>''[[Milton, Massachusetts]]''</small>
|-
| 1999
| Dr. David Chuter <small>''[[Kingston, Surrey|Kingston, U.K.]]''</small>
|-
| 2000
| [[Gary Dahl (businessman)|Gary Dahl]] <small>''[[Los Gatos, California]]''</small>
|-
| 2001
| Sera Kirk <small>''[[Vancouver|Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada]]''</small>
|-
| 2002
| Rephah Berg <small>''[[Oakland, California]]''</small>
|-
| 2003
| Mariann Simms <small>''[[Wetumpka, Alabama]]''</small>
|-
| 2004
| Dave Zobel <small>''[[Manhattan Beach, California]]''</small>
|-
| 2005
| Dan McKay <small>''[[Fargo, North Dakota]]''</small>
|-
| 2006
| Jim Guigli <small>''[[Carmichael, California]]''</small>
|-
| 2007
| Jim Gleeson <small>''[[Madison, Wisconsin]]''</small>
|-
| 2008
| Garrison Spik <small>''[[Washington, D.C.]]''</small>
|-
| 2009
| David McKenzie <small>''[[Federal Way, Washington]]''</small>
|-
| 2010
| Molly Ringle <small>''[[Seattle|Seattle, Washington]]''</small>
|-
| 2011
| Sue Fondrie <small>''[[Appleton, Wisconsin]]''</small>
|-
| 2012
| Cathy Bryant <small>''[[Manchester|Manchester, England]]''</small>
|-
| 2013
|Chris Wieloch <small>''[[Brookfield, Wisconsin]]''</small>
|-
| 2014
|Elizabeth Dorfman <small>''[[Bainbridge Island, Washington]]''</small>
|-
|2015
|Dr. Joel Phillips <small>''[[West Trenton, New Jersey]]''</small>
|-
|2016
|William Barry Brockett <small>''[[Tallahassee, Florida]]''</small>
|-
|2017
|Kat Russo <small>''[[Loveland, Colorado]]''</small>
|-
|2018
|Tanya Menezes <small>''[[San Jose, California]]''</small>
|-
|2019
|Maxwell Archer <small>''Mount Pleasant, Ontario''</small>{{efn|The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest website does not specify which of the several places known as [[Mount Pleasant, Ontario (disambiguation)|Mount Pleasant, Ontario]], is meant.}}
|-
|2020
|Lisa Kluber <small>''[[San Francisco, California]]''</small>
|-
|2021
|Stu Duval <small>''[[Auckland|Auckland, New Zealand]]''</small>
|-
|2022
|John Farmer <small>''[[Aurora, Colorado]]''</small>
|-
|2023
|Maya Pasic <small>''[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]]''</small>
|-
|2024
|[[Lawrence Person]] <small>''[[Austin, Texas]]''</small>
|}

==Collections==
Six books collecting the best BLFC entries have been published:
* ''It Was a Dark and Stormy Night'' (1984), {{ISBN|0-14-007556-9}}
* ''Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"'' (1986), {{ISBN|0-14-008839-3}}
* ''Bride of Dark and Stormy'' (1988), {{ISBN|0-14-010304-X}}
* ''It Was a Dark & Stormy Night: The Final Conflict'' (1992), {{ISBN|0-14-015791-3}}
* ''Dark and Stormy Rides Again'' (1996), {{ISBN|0-14-025490-0}}
* ''It Was a Dark and Stormy Night'' (2007), {{ISBN|978-1-905548-60-6}} <!-- This is different from the 1984 book with the same title -->

An audio cassette of the winning entries in the BLFC was also released:
* ''It Was a Dark and Stormy Night'' (1997), audio cassette, {{ISBN|1-57270-045-9}}.

==See also==
* [[Lyttle Lytton Contest]], a derivative favoring extremely short first sentences
* [[s:Condensed Novels/The Dweller of the Threshold|The Dweller of the Threshold]], a contemporaneous parody of Bulwer-Lytton by [[Bret_Harte#Works_of_parody|Bret Harte]]
* [[Purple prose]]
* [[Bad Sex in Fiction Award]] run by ''[[Literary Review]]'' magazine
* [[Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year]]
* [[International Imitation Hemingway Competition]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest web site]
* [http://chronicle.com/article/From-Worst-to-First-Litera/39309/ "From Worst to First: Literary Award Marks the Pits of Prose"] Chronicle of Higher Education News blog (2007)

{{San Jose State University}}
{{Edward Bulwer-Lytton}}

[[Category:Culture of San Jose, California]]
[[Category:San Jose State University]]
[[Category:Humorous literary awards]]
[[Category:Writing contests]]
[[Category:Recurring events established in 1982]]
[[Category:Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]