(Image from the Bulwer-Lytton Website)Today's forecast for St. Peters, MO: Chance for flurries, high 30 degrees. It doesn't look like it will be a "dark and stormy night" tonight, but if you're curious where that phrase came from, here's a hint.
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest is known world-wide. Beneath their logo on the website, appears the statement: "where www means wretched writers welcome." This is a fun, and humbling, contest. I entered in 1997, and my entry was shown as a sample submission. (Ouch!)
The award is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who wrote: "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." --Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)--
So, if you have some spare time on a "dark and stormy night" or any other type of day or night before the April 15 deadline, send them a sentence (no more than 50-60 words recommended). For more information, visit their website; scroll down past lots of text for complete guidelines.
H'mmm. Since the other way doesn't seem to be working very well, perhaps I can aspire to be a really wretched writer!
ReplyDeleteYou're a great writer! Not many folks could get published with a six-word submission.
ReplyDeleteDonna