What’s the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest?

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The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is a writing contest held annually to find examples of truly naughty and humorous work. Named for author and playwright Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, the tongue-in-cheek contest looks for the worst examples of opening sentences to science fiction novels. The winner is honored with a small cash prize, but the contest attracts thousands of entrants each year.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton was an English playwright and novelist known for his ability to coin phrases that have become common expressions. In addition to credit for such popular lines as “the pen is mightier than the sword” and “the quest for the almighty dollar,” Bulwer-Lytton penned one of the most famous opening lines of all time, “It was a dark and stormy night. ” In recognition and wry appreciation of his florid and incredibly ornate writing style, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest was named in his honor.

In 1982, San Jose State University professor Scott Rice created the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. As a graduate student, Rice had come across the origin of the phrase “It was a dark and stormy night” and named his competition humorous after the minor and oft-belittled Victorian writer. Although the first contest received only three entries, word soon spread of the search for the best poorly written opening lines. Over the next two decades, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Competition began to receive media attention from increasingly influential news outlets. Decades after its inception, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Competition now attracts thousands of entries each year and boasts an international pool of entries.

The contest rules are quite simple: each entry must be a single sentence and must be the original work of the submitting author. Entries are judged by participating members of the English department at San Jose State, with the winner receiving a cash prize and fame among the contest’s followers. There have been several collections of voices published in book form in the past, but many are out of print or hard to find.

Winning entries typically feature a run-on sentence filled with passionate descriptions, nonsensical premises, and broken grammar rules. While critics may feel that competition encourages shoddy writing, supporters point out that you can’t intentionally construct a bad sentence without understanding why it’s so terrible. Instead, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest draws many lovers of the language, who find humor and tongue-in-cheek wit in intentionally awful writing.

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