Wisconsin professor wins bad writing award

Toronto Sun ^ | 7-26-11

[SJackson]

might be of interest.

[ken5050]

Just curious..is there a ca$h prize..or is it just for the honor and recognition..

[Huck]

But it was a dark and stormy night.

[tet68]

Yea, have to give it to the winner, short but evocative.

[Cicero]

Three excellent efforts.

On the other hand, I’ve never really understood what’s so bad about “It was a dark and stormy night.”

[Revolting cat!]

Bulwer-Lytton judges ougtha visit this forum sometime.

[ExGeeEye]

How very...distressing.

[tet68]

My entry.

As a leader, he was not, as a follower he lead the pack,
failure followed him like a mangy hound, while success
eluded his grasp though he claimed it as his own.

[Revolting cat!]

You never did? Do you read Danielle Steel or Tom Clancy? Barbara Cartland? Purple is the color of that prose.

"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."

[ClearCase_guy]

"Good afternoon. It's great to be back at GW. I want you to know that one of the reasons I kept the government open was so I could be here today with all of you. I wanted to make sure you had one more excuse to skip class. You're welcome. "
-- Barack Obama (Apr 2011)

[irishtenor]

But it was a dark and stormy night... due to the time, which was around midnightish, and the inclement weather due to a high pressure system that hovered over the area like a buzzard looking at its next meal.

[I see my hands]

In the Posts to a Conservative Forum category:

My liberal friend...

[USMCPOP]

“Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories,”

He obviously meant Nancy...Pelosi. Something suffered in the translation.

[TChad]

Falcon was her name and she was quite the bird of prey, sashaying past her adolescent admirers from one anchor store to another, past the kiosks where earrings longed to lie upon her lobes and sunglasses hoped to nestle on her nose, seemingly the beginning of a beautiful friendship with whomsoever caught the eye of the mall tease, Falcon.

by Jay Dardenne

Winner of the "Vile Puns" category in the 2005 Bulwer-Lytton.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Could of picked any Obama speech.

[ottbmare]

It wasn’t the dark and stormy night that was the problem; it was the hideous overblown Victorian writing in the rest of the book.

[doc1019]

ROFLMAO! Thanks for the laugh. ;-)

[El Cid]

On the other hand, I’ve never really understood what’s so bad about “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Nor I. It always seemed like a reasonable sentence to me (certainly not worth the mockery).
Although I have to admit that I also liked Fondrie's and Johnson's sentences - so I flunk as a writing critic. I thought they were kind of funny. McDonnel's was the only one that I'd lump into the category of poor writing.

[Revolting cat!]

It was a dark and stormy night,
as the sun set at its designated time,
five hours earlier, surprising no one that evening
in the vicinity  of the suburban development
where our story transpires, while the gusts of wind
and occasional rain sent our lovelorn heroes to the
safety to their adobes, somewhere on the floors of their
multi-story condominiums built during the housing boom
of the previous decade and featuring such amenities as 
covered parking, laundry (coin operated) and small gyms
with full sets of dumbells weighing anywhere from two to eighty pounds.