Friday, July 07, 2006

Announcing the Blurb Contest!

Have you ever wondered whether the critics' blurbs on book covers and film ads were taken out of context? Maybe you've seen a play because your favorite theater critic was quoted as saying it was "Absolutely wonderful!", only to discover later that the actual review said the play was "so absolutely horrible that someone screaming "fire!" in the crowded theater would have been wonderful".

Inspired by the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest and a piece in the NY Times about "the blurb wars", I have decided to create the Blurb Contest and dedicate a whole new blog to it, separate from my main blog.

There are four categories:

1. Total Fiction: Make up a product (book, movie, hair spray, anything), make up a line or two of a bad review and write the blurb. For example - The "Absolutely wonderful" blurb above.

2. Semi Fiction: Take an actual product (let's say "Superman Returns" or that play Julia Roberts was in), make up a bad review and write the blurb.

3. Critical Fiction: Take an actual bad review and make up a positive blurb based on it.

4. Real Fiction: The least creative category. Just find real blurbs that are distorting bad reviews.


Tags: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment