Who wrote this line as the opening to a novel?

Question

"It was a dark and stormy night: the rain fell in torrents"

It wasn't Snoopy although Charles M. Schulz probably borrowed the line from the author.

Answer 1

"It was a dark and stormy night" is a famous opening sentence in a novel "Paul Clifford" published in 1830 by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton who was born in 1803 and died in1873.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton (a.k.a. Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton ) is the son of Gen. William Bulwer and Elizabeth Lytton, he assumed the name Bulwer-Lytton in 1843 when he inherited the Lytton estate “Knebworth.” He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866. His varied and highly derivative novels won wide popularity. Many of his early novels of manners—Falkland (1827), Paul Clifford (1830), and Eugene Aram (1832)—reflect the influence of his friend William Godwin. Bulwer-Lytton, however, is best remembered for his extremely well-researched historical novels, particularly The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) and Rienzi (1835). In 1849, with The Caxtons, he began a series of humorous domestic novels, which had recently become the vogue. His utopian novel, The Coming Race, prefigured the works of Wells and Huxley. A member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841, Bulwer-Lytton was a reformer, but in 1852 he returned to Parliament as a Conservative. In 1858 he was appointed colonial secretary. He was also a successful dramatist. His plays include The Lady of Lyons (1838), Richelieu (1839), and Money (1840).

Paul Clifford has the following plot introduction:
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

The opening of the book was the inspiration for San Jose State University's annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which celebrates the worst in English writing. The contest includes a "Dark and Stormy night" section, which is intended to find the worst introduction that can be made from the beginning of that sentence. The competition highlights literary achievements of the most dubious sort; "We want writers with a little talent but no taste," says San Jose State English Professor Scott Rice.

The line was also frequently parodied in Charles Schulz' Peanuts comic strip by showing Snoopy repeatedly starting a novel that starts with the first part of the opening sentence. It was also spoofed in an episode of The Simpsons.♥

Answer 2

"The phrase "It was a dark and stormy night", made famous by comic strip artist Charles M. Schulz, was originally penned by Victorian novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton as the beginning of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford. The phrase itself is now understood as a shorthand for a certain broad style of writing, characterized by a self-serious attempt at dramatic flair; the imitation of formulaic styles; an extravagantly florid style; and run-on sentences. Bulwer-Lytton's original opening sentence serves as example:
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
Paul Clifford, available freely at Project Gutenberg
Although anyone can write in this style, achieving the worst effects takes skill. Thus the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest was formed, sponsored by the English Department of San Jose State University, in which the worst examples of "dark and stormy night" writing are recognized."

Answer 3

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton.

And every year, I enter the contest for bad writing. Great fun.

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

Answer 4

William Gibson's first novel