50 shades...

I'm a bit lost as to what the answer is for the phenomenal success of 50 Shades. I'm going to stick with my theory of the fan-fic beginning, because my other theory terrifies me!

One of my friends said, "... the first chapter kept me reading - how many award-winning books have I struggled to read through the first chapter? This one was easy to get into..."

And I didn't get it. The first chapter didn't hook me in. It did quite the opposite. It was like reading my first drafts and tearing my hair out because I don't say the same thing once or twice but about fifteen times. And that was the first chapter - everything I've been schooling myself out of.

50 Shades is written in 1st person present tense. The exact thing I have been told so many times won't sell. So that's good. I have a HUGE book to say - well, that did. I haven't had that before. I've questioned my decision to write this way, so many times, but now I have someone else doing this, mega-successfully.

So, I've come up with no reason why this has become so huge. My friend was hoping I would. She was looking forward to me buying a European house and having her there for holidays! LOL.

I look forward to what this book does for the erotic genre, and for authors (and would-be authors) writing in 1st person, present tense!

50 shades

So much has been written about this book and how it's opening up the erotic genre - or not. It's popularity is undeniable... so I decided I had to buy it to dissect it and try to work out why.

Before I start, my thoughts were that the fan-fic beginning was what made this popular - word of mouth sent it sky rocketing before it was published in paper. And we know how popular Twilight is. So I thought it tagged on to that craziness.

But maybe there's more...

ordinary things

Usually I create a story by taking something ordinary and twisting it around and around. So I often take an ordinary event in my life, then twist and turn it, add excitement, sex, a myriad of emotions, and events that didn't happen and voila, a story.

The scary thing is when people know me. They know I did that thing (e.g. went to the Daintree). Because they know I did that, then they assume all the rest is factual too. *sigh* If only!

I didn't think this bothered me until Pain Surfer was published. Just a short story, but next time I was at the beach watching the kids surfing (we mostly have kids surfing here) I felt a little creepy. What if someone knew I wrote that story, would they assume I was having wicked thoughts about kids? That kind of worries me. But if I wrote murder mysteries, and set them in places I'd lived, would people assume I was a killer?

I have to get over this.

But... I was at the butcher's the other day. Butcher's shops are such male dominated, raw environments, which had me thinking... what if I set a story at a butcher's shop? And then I walked away with my steak under my arm and reality hit me. Could I ever shop at the butcher's again without blushing? Could I ever ask for sausages without hearing the double entendre?

Using ordinary things, ordinary places, and events in my life, might make writing the story more interesting, but can I live with the questions people will ask and the innuendo? Will I be able to walk into the butcher's without a huge smile on my face? Does it matter if I'm having fun?

A Tense Dilemma

Most books are written in past tense (eg I walked along the street admiring the ocean views...) but for some reason, my brain writes in present tense (eg I walk along the street where ocean views capture my attention). It seems more active to me. I make different word choices (like the above - no thought given to either that's just how they come out when I think in different tenses).

Of course, since the majority of people write in past tense, my style jars readers/contest judges. But in my mind, it sounds fine.

So, another dilemma for me... do I conform to past tense? Or do I stay doing what I like to write?

My gut instinct is to stick with what I like. Writing wisdom says what you like is your unique style. My concern is that I have two things that jar the majority of people - 1st person AND present tense. (I also used to write from multiple viewpoints, but I've curtailed that to just one.)

So maybe that's the answer. I had three different things. I changed one. Maybe I keep the other two.

Who knew this would be so difficult? Who knew I bucked the system so much (oh, okay, maybe I knew that bit!).

Dare to be different.

Maybe that should be my tagline :) Or maybe I'm just too different to be accepted.