It was a dark and stormy and verbose night...

[Darren Dirt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulwer-Lytton_Fiction_Contest

The contest was initiated in 1982 by Professor Scott Rice and is named "in honour" of English novelist and playwright Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, author of the much quoted first line "It was a dark and stormy night". This opening continues floridly:

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.

Although anyone can write in this style, achieving the worst effects takes skill. Thus the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest was formed, sponsored by the English Department of San Jose State University, in which the worst examples of "dark and stormy night" writing are recognized.

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) is a tongue-in-cheek contest that takes place annually and is sponsored by the English Department of San Jos? State University in San Jose, California. Entrants are invited "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels", i.e., deliberately bad. A prize of US$250 is awarded.

"Five books collecting the "best" BLFC entries have been published..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulwer-Lytton_Fiction_Contest#Books




PS: There are two errors in this this statement.