Each year, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest searches for the country’s worst writers and honors them with an award. The contest was established to honor Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who’s known for opening his novel “Paul Clifford” with the famous line: “It was a dark and stormy night.”

For bookworms and people like me who make their living with the written word, the winning excerpts are always good for a laugh. This year’s lucky winner? Molly Ringle of Seattle who compared a passionate kiss to a gerbil sucking its cage-mounted water bottle.

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