Each year, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest receives hundreds of entrants all competing to craft the worst opening sentence for an imaginary novel. The annual event celebrates English author and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who once penned the infamous line “It was a dark and stormy night”.
This year’s winner is Kat Russo from Colorado, who wrote this memorable opening sentence:
The elven city of Losstii faced towering sea cliffs and abutted rolling hills that in the summer were covered with blankets of flowers and in the winter were covered with blankets, because the elves wanted to keep the flowers warm and didn’t know much at all about gardening.
You can learn more about the contest and read some more dreadful openers on the Bulwer-Lytton website.