By Aishah Macgill
Read some very interesting information regarding the book, ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ by EL James.
First, it was originally penned as ‘fan fiction’ based on the ‘Twilight’ series and the original title was ‘Master of the Universe’ by Erika Leonard, who is now known as EL James.
The biggest revelation for me is that there is an underworld of work circulating the internet written by ‘fans’ of a particular book and recreated- by the fans themselves- as a homage, fascinates me. Apparently a lot of kids have done this with the Harry Potter books, and the sometimes litigious JK Rowling lets it slide as many of the writers are kids penning their first tome.
Second, the genre of ‘fan fiction’ is apparently huge. It must remain in the shadowlands though, because the scribblings of rabid fans ripping off their favourite characters and placing them into their own stories is copyright infringement a la king, a potential field day for lawyers. However, many authors and their publishers find ‘fan fiction’ can actually enhance sales, they live by the old adage- any publicity is good publicity.
‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ began it’s life in this mirky genre and was actually published in print by an Australian Publisher, ‘The Writers Coffee Shop’. The copies originally printed, were surprisingly reselling for more than the initial asking price.
When the book garnered some media interest, the author allegedly made some quick changes so it would not infringe on any copyright laws regarding the ‘Twilight’ series. EL James then signed two book deals arranged for her by a literary agent, now the previously self published authors book is distributed in the UK by Random House and by Vintage in the US.
I haven’t read either of the books in question, so I don’t know if there are any remnants of the ‘Twilight’ series in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, but I do know that even in my local coffee shop, the current print versions are doing the rounds amongst friends, gleefully passed around and tittered over with copious amonts of coffee.
It’s definately a polarising book, some love it, some hate it, men claim it bores them despite the copious amounts of sex. Click on the link below and read some of the reviews on Amazon, they are pure entertainment in themselves!
