A Real Winner of a Bad First Sentence
with
Jim Guigli
Author and Annual Judge, Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
Jim Guigli began writing with single sentence entries for the 2005-2006 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. From thousands, one of Jim’s 63 entries was selected as the Grand Prize winner. It was about a beautiful, mysterious woman visiting the small office of an impoverished private detective, Bart Lasiter. Benefits from winning the Contest included world-wide notice, print, radio, and TV interviews.
Though the Contest is about writing a bad opening sentence to a non-existent novel, people kept asking, “What about the rest of the book? What happens to Bart Lasiter?” After hearing those questions too many times, Jim took that one sentence and created the Old Town Sacramento fictional world of Bart Lasiter, and Lasiter Investigations. Since then, Jim has published a Kindle novelette, Bad News for a Ghost, and written unpublished short stories and a novel. Many of these stories have won awards.
In this presentation, Jim will reveal the secrets to winning the Contest. Jim will read examples of winning sentences, and use the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest as an example of the value in writing and perfecting one sentence at a time, whether bad or good.
First Friday Network Meeting, May 3, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips
The California Writers Club–Sacramento Branch Networking Meeting is held the first Friday of every month at Coco’s Restaurant, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights, at the corner of Madison and Sunrise, starting at 9 a.m. Meetings are free. Attendees pay for their own breakfast.
Questions? Ask via our Contact page.