Sucks for Molly Ringle

Did you know there is an award for the worst opening sentence of a novel? Well, there is and Molly Ringle won it this year for writing this sentence: "For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss--a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil."

Yikes. She deserved this one. It seems like not all publicity can be good publicity, especially in the book world.

Via Media Bistro: This prize is part of an annual bad writing competition that began in 1982 at San Jose State University. The contest was named after Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, an author famous for writing the opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night."

UPDATE: So I guess I read this article wrong. Caroline Bookbinder informs me that "Actually, these lines that are submitted for the Bulwer-Lytton award are NOT the first sentences of actual books - they're made up specifically for the Bulwer-Lytton (at least they don't HAVE TO come from books. I suppose having been published wouldn't prevent a line from being submitted.) So Molly Ringle purposefully created the worst first sentence she could think of. It's an exercise in creativity."

Thanks for setting me straight Caroline. I feel like a total spaz. I guess it doesn't suck for Molly Ringle.