The first line for October's writing contest was, "It was a dark and stormy night..." The contest is ongoing, with a different first line chosen each month, and is open to kids of all ages The rules are simple: Write a short story using the first line we give you and submit it to CCF.

Without doing a Google or Internet search, do you know where this first line came from? First take the following survey and then scroll down the page and read more about it.

Snoopy was the first to use the immortal line in his book by that title

YES. Snoopy rocks! I can see him doing something like that. NO. Snoopy's creator did not come up with this phrase. Not sure.

The British Council uses the phrase in a language learning exercise

YES. They've come up with a great writing exercise! NO. No one would use such a phrase in language learning I don't know who the British Council is.

The phrase was used by NASA to describe the night the planet Mars was near its closest approach to Earth in almost 60,000 years

YES! An actual photo of the night sky led NASA to write about it and use the phrase! NO. NASA has better things to do than use lame phrases to describe their work. Hhhmmmm. Don't know.

The phrase comes from a 1930 novel and is the beginning of one of the best opening sentence of any novel in the English language

YES. Absolutely true! NO. You've got your dates and description all wrong! Don't know. Maybe I'll read about it after I take this survey.

The phrase has inspired an international writing contest where participants try to submit the worst opening sentences to imaginary novels

YES. It's an annual writing contest that many writers participate in. NO. Why would anyone waste their time doing this? I don't know of any such writing contest.

The phrase was inspired by the many books and activities surrounding the celebration of Halloween

YES. I can see how that would happen. NO. The phrase was not inspired by anything related to Halloween. Maybe, but I 'm not sure.

The phrase is the first line in a 1963 Newbery Award book

YES. That's true. It's the first line in a well known children's book. NO. Are you kidding me? I wouldn't know about that.

AFTER you vote, check more information on each of the poll questions: 

• Question #1: NO. Even though Charles M. Schulz did write "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Snoopy", the phrase was not original to Schulz. [See question #4 below].
• Question #2: YES. Nik Peachey has designed a language learning activity where students start out using the famous phrase. The activity's instructions are available online at the British Council's website.
• Question #3: YES. NASA posted a photo of one such night in their Astronomy Picture of the Day archives where T. Credner & S. Kohle of AlltheSky.com write, "It was a dark and stormy night. But on August 29th the red planet Mars, near its closest approach to Earth in almost 60,000 years, shone brightly in the sky against a background of stars in the constellation Aquarius." [More space images available at: NASA's APOD home page].
• Question #4: NO. "The words are actually from the 1830 novel, 'Paul Clifford' by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, widely held to contain the worst opening sentence of any novel in the English language." [abc.net.au]
• Question #5: YES. Since 1982, The Department of Englisn & Comparative Literature at San Jose State University in California has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest where entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences.
• Question #6: NO. The phrase was original to Bulwer-Lytton, as mentioned in question #4 above. We're using the phrase as the first line of our online writing contest this month.
• Question #7: YES. Chris Vollmer, one of our site's visitors, wrote us saying, "The phrase is also the first line in the Newbery Award Winner of 1963, A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle.