“Authentic. Dramatic. The performance practitioner known as the Kitten presents a lyrical evocation of our times, with a startlingly avant-garde approach to movement.” — Biased Observer.
“Ich bin ein Kätzchen.” — Biased Observer in German.
“Je suis le chat. Nous sommes tous le chat.” — Biased Observer in French.
Hello Deborah.
This comment pertains to an older post in your blog, but also has to do with the craft of writing, like this post.
The problem with “It was a dark and stormy night …” is not that it’s formulaic. As you correctly point out, it wasn’t formulaic the first time it was written.
The critical failure lies in the fact that it is a lengthy and convoluted sentence that conveys very little information in terms of advancing a plotline.
For exactly the opposite effect, try this link in “Wired” magazine:
https://www.wired.com/story/six-word-sci-fi/
Hi Maria,
Thanks for your comment.
I suspect that a six-word story and the first line of a longer work are – or at least should be – trying to achieve different things. (Unless one is a journalist, it’s generally not a winning strategy to put the whole story in the first line.)
But flash fiction challenges can be excellent training for those who specialize in prose so tightly written it has the ascetic grace of poetry, rather than in hefty tomes like Bulwer-Lytton’s 965-page whopper.
After all, he wasn’t trying to advance a plotline, but to set a scene. While the sentence undoubtedly is – as you point out – lengthy and convoluted, it has its evocative moments. One can almost see the “scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”