Poetry Challenge #324-But for a Wrinkle . . .
“It was a dark and stormy night…”
Which author penned it first? Hint: the answer isn’t Snoopy.
It’s sort of a trick question actually for, according to dictionary.com writers have been beginning stories with that line as long as night has fallen, rain has stormed, and people have been making up stories.
(For the record, the earliest published record noted was “The English novelist, playwright, and politician Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton used the line to open his 1830 book Paul Clifford.)
But most famously, Snoopy aside, “It was a dark and stormy night,” is line one of chapter one of A Wrinkle in Time written by our poet/writer of the week, Madeline L’Engle.
Madeleine was born on November 29th, 1918 in New York City to a pianist mother and mystery writer father. Of her childhood she once told a journalist she
“…Saw little of the stars and not enough of her parents,”
which left her endless time to read, make up stories and write.
“Little” became almost nothing when at 12, her parents moved to the French Alps and Madeline was sent to English Boarding School. (Maybe English Boarding School is the secret ingredient for writing success???) or not.
Madeline crossed the pond to do high school at Ashley Hall in South Carolina-wrote
Went to Smith-wrote
Moved to Greenwich Village-wrote-
Worked in theater-wrote
and published 2 novels-
Married Hugh Franklin-wrote
Hugh who?????
Who knew Madeline L’Engle was married to a soap opera star???
Madeline and Hugh had 3 kids-Madeline wrote- they bought a defunct general store in Connecticut. She wrote-became a librarian-wrote. . .
A Wrinkle in Time didn’t fit publishers’ mold or lists.
Editors didn’t think it would sell.
It took more than 2 years—25-40 rejections by Madeline’s own count—before Farrar, Straus & Giroux published A Wrinkle in Time in 1962.
“If I’ve ever written a book that says what I believe about God and the universe, this is it,”—L ’Engle’s journal June 2nd 1960
A Wrinkle in Time went on to win the prestigious 1963 Newbery medal and has sold over 16 million copies in more than 30 languages, and counting. In 1980, L’Engle won the National Book Award for A Swiftly Tilting Planet, paperback edition, (#4 in her Time Quintet). What a wrinkle . . .
Poetry Challenge #324
But for a Wrinkle . . .
Let’s use L ‘Engle’s basic list of ingredients to conjure up a poem titled “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night.”
Storm
Stranger
Wind
Time
Wrinkle
Use any/all of the ingredients above, stir in some fantasy and Presto!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
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