Who do we blame for this?

[Hazy992]

I've never seen erotic novel so I wouldn't know. The title 50 Shades of Grey doesn't sound like an erotic novel, maybe it does and I'm missing something.

Most erotic novels seem to be like this;

I've seen even less subtle books than that too. You spot them a mile away in bookshops.

snip

Thank you for showing me that, just thank you. There is no possible way I can have a bad day today now that I've seen that.

I want the audiobook

Also how are they going to turn that into a movie that isn't either incredibly creepy or a porno? Seriously has Hollywood truly run out of new ideas now?

Maybe they could do it like The Aristocrats?

 

[Hazy992]

Erotic novels do usually have really obvious names and covers though. You can spot them a mile off.

It's also one of the only genres where female authors won't initial their first name to hide their gender because female authorship is something of a selling point. For women, by women.

Yeah that's true, although all I can think of now is when Mr. Garrison tried to write one

 

[The Funslinger]

Also, I'd like to know how many people ranting and raving about it have actually read 50 Shades of Grey or the Twilight Saga.

I've read the first 3 Twilight books. My brain started rejecting itself before I could get to the final one.

Not going near 50 Shades with a ten foot barge pole though, so I'm not going to rant about it. It's not my thing, so I avoid it wherever possible. I really don't get what the big deal is about films that target women or teenage girls or whatever becoming movies is. It's not like they're forcing people to watch them.

I hate the fact that the fucking Bourne films exist, but I don't rant about it. I just stay the fuck away from them.

Since I'm a damn author, I reserve the right to ***** and moan whenever something that butchers the literary art enters the public eye.

I've no problem with crap like it existing. In Twilight's case, I suppose there needs to be something to inspire the portion of teenage girls who are utterly useless at life, the universe and everything that they can still be a "success". It's when these things become universally considered noteworthy that I have a problem.

Twilight is going to go down in history, and thus have an impact on writing as a whole. This infuriates me. My assumption is that Stephanie Meyer was attending a writer's course, then had to leave after the first minute, and left hearing one word: "Adjectives". She clearly then took that one grain of education to heart and made it the foundation of her empire without any context, or moderation whatsoever. Basically how the worst of the worst fan fictions are written.

 

[MrMan999]

Honestly. What pisses me off is how some of these Twilight fans outright insult me for going to the Science Fiction, Graphic Novels or Manga Isle in Barnes and Noble. Call me a lowlife nerd and all that good stuff. And then go right ahead in screaming at the top of their lungs about how Twilight/50 Shades of Grey/Hunger Games is the best book ever.

 

[ElPatron]

50 what? Never heard of it.

You can't actually blame anyone for it unless the writer is following a formula to just earn money. Teenagers want something like that and they will buy it for some reason.

I am thinking about bands like Tokio Hotel and Evanescense and whatever. It's hyped up, people want to feel unique by becoming like everyone else who likes that stuff, etc etc etc and now you have a huge number of emo/scene/goth girls and boys on the street compared to a decade ago.

Dark and edgy sells. Let's google the name of the novel and check the Wiki page.

*upon returning*

Holy shit, dark and edgy sells, period. The description didn't sell me the book even thought it includes things I like. It just feels dumb and shoehorned. Pass.

The Amazon Kindle is to be blamed. I read somewhere that sales for erotic novels have increased significantly since the release of the Kindle.

You think that's because you can read an erotic novel without anyone actually knowing?

People don't print fake book covers to read those in public? Wait, does this mean I am smarter than people who read erotic novels?

 

[Hazy992]

The Amazon Kindle is to be blamed. I read somewhere that sales for erotic novels have increased significantly since the release of the Kindle.

You think that's because you can read an erotic novel without anyone actually knowing?

People don't print fake book covers to read those in public? Wait, does this mean I am smarter than people who read erotic novels?

They read erotic novels, what do you think?

 

[Hagi]

Only thing I actually know about 50 Shades though is Gilbert Gottfried read it


If this doesn't get your juices flowing I don't know what will

Oh my god! That was brilliant!

I'm literally crying right now... so awesome!

 

[Hazy992]

Only thing I actually know about 50 Shades though is Gilbert Gottfried read it


If this doesn't get your juices flowing I don't know what will

Oh my god! That was brilliant!

I'm literally crying right now... so awesome!

I need to find the full audiobook Might look a bit mental if I listen to it in public and I'm laughing my ass off

 

[ElPatron]

I advise anyone to watch the Gilbert Gottfriend video that was posted here. The book sounds as bad as I thought.

They read erotic novels, what do you think?

Fair enough.

 

[Nerexor]

Firstly, I don't mind 50 shades of grey because it has spawned a large number of hilarious youtube videos. Dramatic readings are especially entertaining. The SNL skit is also amazing.

Secondly, this is nothing new. The Trashy Romance Novel (which shall henceforth be referred to as TRNs for the remainder of this post) has been around for a very long time. TRNs feature imbalanced power relationships with the woman being put in a contrived situation so that her submission to the male sex-fantasy figure seems less offensive to the feminists among their readership, and will have shoddily written sex with varying levels of graphic description.

Most attempt to use poetic language like "seperating the petals of her womanhood" or equally nonsensical and flowery images to make the sexual descriptions seem less tawdry. In modern TRNs, this has become less of a fad in favor of explicit descriptions and more hardcore sex to give the reading a feeling of illicitness, sometimes described as "Oh my, thats SOOO dirty."

50 Shades of Grey is only unique in how goddamn awful it is. A friend of mine has been texting me some of the more ludicrously bad sections of it for the past week, and it's been one hell of a laugh overall. It's the "Eye of Argon" or "My Immortal" of the published romance novel, it should only ever be read to be mocked. Or possibly for use in a drinking game.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

What the actual fuck is 50 Shades?

 

[Tanis]

I've heard there was a rape, but then she enjoyed it/asked for it, scene.

So, maybe that's why there's controversy?

 

[someonehairy-ish]

The fuck is 50 shades?

And the people to blame are the people who buy it, obviously. Does anyone really need to be blamed though? A nation that reads rubbish is still probably better than a nation that doesn't read at all.

 

[putowtin]

No one... These books are aimed at teenagers. They're allowed read shit. Giving out about teen fiction is like giving out about the lack of depth in The Hungriest Caterpillar.

But it's so deep, on so many levels....

and it's about damn time it was turned into a movie!

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I've heard there was a rape, but then she asked for it?

So... not rape then?

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

*snip*

I'm having some difficulty figuring out exactly what you're asking. So a book that you believe to be shitty has sold very well. How did this negatively effect you? Put simply: Why do you care?

EDIT: By the way, judging by just how many people are asking "What the flying fuck is 50 Shades?", I would say that this "controversy" might be a bit....Overestimated. Incidentally, what the flying fuck is 50 Shades? (Don't answer, I can use google)

 

[Nerexor]

For those who are asking (and apparently too lazy to navigate to wikipedia):

50 Shades of Grey is a novel based on a series of "erotic" "BDSM" twilight fanfiction. [footnote]Those words are in quotes because the sex scenes are not at all sexy and apparently those actually in the BDSM community have stated she has no clue what she's talking about.[/footnote] Someone expressed an interest in publishing it to the author, so she changed all the names to avoid litigation, and voila, really poorly written bondage porn is now cheaply available.

You'd think it would end there, but somehow this train wreck has become a best seller.

Its outsold even some novels you may have heard of, like (to pick an example totally at random) Harry Potter.

While the trashy romance genre has always been fantastically successful, it only tends to be so in general rather than having a remarkably popular set of books like this, so it's quite surprising, especially considering the amusingly terrible quality of the writing.

So there you have it people who asked a random question on forums instead of using the freely available one click away resources, you have been educated.

EDIT: Okay, upon double checking it has not outsold Harry Potter, but it has beaten its record as the fastest selling paperback of all time. And has sold ten million copies worldwide.