50 Shades - The FanFic Hypothesis

When I talked about Why Fifty Shades of Grey Matters last week, it was an innocent commentary on a customer's view of the book.

One of my regular commenters, author Angie Benedetti, mentioned a fascinating post about the id in the writer's mind by Maculategiraffe. Go read it; I'll wait.

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Did James hit something in the Twilight fans' collective id that made them say, "Oh yeah, I want that!"?

All this made me start digging. Someone had posted a cached copy of the original version of Fifty Shades, called Master of the Universe. (So sorry! I thought I bookmarked it, but now I can't find it.) Anyway, other than the names, descriptions and a few personality quirks of Edward and Bella, James's story had nothing to do with the Twilight universe. I wouldn't consider it even an Alternate Universe.

I'd like to point out I never said E.L. James violated Stephenie Meyer's copyright. It would take very little editing to make Master of the Universe a totally separate animal, which I believe James has done. The only reason it's even mentioned in the same breath as Twilight is because it started life on a Twilight fan fic website.

Here's Stephanie's thoughts on Fifty Shades in her own words:

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I've heard a lot of people ranting about E.L. James's grammar, or lack thereof. So, last Sunday, I flipped through the book while at Barnes & Noble, reading the first chapter, then a few pages here and there. To me, it's not as spectacularly bad as some people make it out to be on the technical front.

I have to agree with Angie's comment. Someone's ability to tell a story overrides grammar pecadillos. I LOVED the Harry Potter series! I don't give a flip what anyone says about J.K. Rowling's craft abilities. She captured my attention. The same with many authors on my keeper shelf.

My problem with a story occurs when the author does something so illogical that it rips me out of my suspension of disbelief. Unfortunately, that's what happened to me while reading the first chapter and a few other excerpts of 50 Shades of Grey. I'll post my thoughts on why my suspension of disbelief collapsed on Monday.

When Does An Author Go Too Far?

Currently reading Blood Price by Tanya Huff

In between my regular reading and writing this weekend, I read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Stephenie Meyer's publishing company posted her latest Twilight book online. It's still available until midnight EST on July 5.

I'll give Stephenie credit. She did with this novella what she planned to do with her aborted novel, Midnight Sun--give her readers a different POV on critical events of the Twilight Saga. And I'll give Little, Brown & Company credit for priming the Twilight pump right before the movie release of Eclipse. From a business standpoint, I say major kudos for their marketing savvy and knowing their audience.

From the story standpoint? I'm not sure how I feel.

Bree comes off as far more sympathetic than Bella. She didn't have the luxury in choosing to become a vampire. And the poor girl quickly learns that life with the newborns is just as dangerous as her human life as a runaway. I kind of wished that Stephenie had fleshed out the human Bree a little more.

On the other hand, I don't think events in the novella mesh with the events in Breaking Dawn very well. Lack of continuity in books and movies is one of my pet peeves. (In fact, it's one of DH's too, which is why I trust him as one of my beta readers.)

Don't get me wrong. This is not a slam on writers who do series. As a writer, I fully understand how hard it is, and I applaud anyone who even attempts to write a series.

But as a reader, I feel, well, maybe insulted is the best word. Like the writer or publisher thinks I'm too stupid to notice these things. I'm not talking about carving out reasonable exceptions when the writer has laid the appropriate groundwork in order to give a neat spin to their story. But there's a very popular NYT bestselling author who left me cold after the third book. To me, why waste the money if the rules change in midstream? C'mon! Would you take Master Splinter appearing to train Luke Skywalker after Ben Kenobi dies seriously?

This is not to say things can't be handled well if someone wants to be revisionary. Take J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot or Sherrilyn Kenyon's Chronicles of Nick for example. As a consumer, I just want a fucking good reason for turning the rules of the fictional world upside down.

Honestly, when one of my series sees the light of the publishing world, I fully expect to be skewered by my readers if I do something insanely stupid. And I'm sure DH will do his damnedest to make sure I don't fall off the stupid cliff.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. Anybody else have some thought on the Bree Tanner novella?