ubscribers will receive a slightly steamier cover featuring our exclusive story on Fifty Shades of Grey, the massively successful erotic novel that has everyone talking, if perhaps only in hushed tones.)
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.”
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.”