Can we discuss this travesty?
Apr. 2nd, 2012 02:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Copies of Fifty Shades of Grey have been flying off shelves and into the hands of millions of women — and possibly tens of men. EW has the first Stateside interview with press-shy author E L James (that’s a nom de plume, by the way), as well as the full story behind how the sexy novel went from unpolished Twilight-inspired fan fiction to a full-on phenomenon.
From her perspective, creating a runaway word-of-mouth success wasn’t all that difficult. “I came up with a story and I wrote it,” James told EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum. “I read an interview with Stephenie [Meyer] where she said, ‘You’ve got to start at the beginning.’ So I did that.” Now Universal and Focus Features have picked up the movie rights for reportedly close to $5 million. It may seem a bit unbelievable, but James understands her book’s appeal. “It’s fantasy,” she says. “It’s a romantic fantasy story. That’s it. It’s just a fun read. I don’t see it as erotica. I see it as a contemporary romance. Yes, it’s quite graphic, but when people fall in love they have sex. Well, actually, they have a lot of sex. In the beginning. So that’s what this is about. It’s for ordinary women who like some spicy sex.”
How did this to become a thing? Why are people allowing it? How is this not in some way illegal? WHY