The phrase had earlier been used by Washington Irving in his 1809 “A History of New York”.3 Its status as a catchphrase for bad writing comes from the opening sentence of Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Paul Clifford:
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.
Evaluations of the opening sentence
Writer’s Digest described this sentence as “the literary posterchild for bad story starters”.4 On the other hand, the American Book Review ranked it as No. 22 on its “Best first lines from novels list”.5
I see nothing wrong with that paragraph. Too many like the slimmed down prose which I find spare and nearly colorless.
Cronkers McGee Premium Member almost 7 years ago
Snoopy.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] almost 7 years ago
From Wikipedia
Origin
The phrase had earlier been used by Washington Irving in his 1809 “A History of New York”.3 Its status as a catchphrase for bad writing comes from the opening sentence of Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Paul Clifford:
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.Evaluations of the opening sentence
Writer’s Digest described this sentence as “the literary posterchild for bad story starters”.4 On the other hand, the American Book Review ranked it as No. 22 on its “Best first lines from novels list”.5
I see nothing wrong with that paragraph. Too many like the slimmed down prose which I find spare and nearly colorless.