Tom – Page 147

I felt I had to read ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ for research purposes … no really, it was for that reason. I have a couple of ideas for writing romance and erotica but I wanted to know what was being published in the up to date market.

For weeks I’ve seen the three books of the ‘Fifty Shades …’ trilogy by E.L. James on the bookshelves and never lifted one down. I have a smug feeling of satisfaction now, in the the knowledge I had them pegged (no pun intended) just by the titles and covers. For the benefit of anyone wondering, my graphic is not related to the trilogy in that it is not a book cover for any of them.

I suppose there is a hint on the covers of the paperbacks. All the books have a black cover with a white/grey/silver item spotlighted under the white title. The first book features a woven grey/silver necktie, the second (Fifty Shades Darker) has a mask as might have been seen long ago in high society functions on the end of a small stick (not a full face mask) and the third book(Fifty Shades Freed), which actually gives the game away if you’re slow, features a key.

To the first in the trilogy, ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’. I read it with an open mind, not because I’m well-acquainted with the world of BDSM (Bondage, Domination/Discipline, Submission and Masochism), although I confess I’ve dabbled in certain aspects. No people or animals were injured or hurt in my experiments.

Anyway, I digress. The story features two main characters who in themselves are well-drawn, a pretty graduate called Anastasia Steele who is about as virginal as you could hope for – if that was your thing. Kissing a guy is her full sexual experience to date. Days before graduation she finds herself interviewing self-made millionaire Christian Gray, who is as good looking as he is rich. A bit of a dish for the ladies and a fine catch if you want a rich guy in your life, albeit with strange personal habits.

Where ‘Ana’ is virginal and totally unprepared for the big bad world, Christian is a man for whom sex is more about his penchant to inflict pain on his ‘lover’ which is how he gets his rocks off. In a magical/fantasy and physical way they are seriously attracted to each other and so the romance part of the story is born.

She falls in love with him. He desires her. It’s not really the same thing as the reader finds out quite rapidly. Ana finds herself under Christian’s spell and though he does warn her (more than once), she succumbs and begins to fall into the character of his ‘submissive’. Sadly, Ana believes that she is getting through to Christian and thinks she can change his ways and he’ll love her in a more conventional way. Get real Ana – the guy is a bloody sadist!

I found the sex scenes were over a bit too quick for my liking. If I’m going to read sex I want to feel it, get into it and enjoy it – not be taken in with the preamble and then find it’s all over – maybe too close to reality eh? On the subject of desire, the writing left a lot to be desired and I’m no expert, but I’ve checked reviews by those who are in the know – and their view was similar to mine.

Will I read the remainder of the trilogy?

No, not unless Mr. Grey sends around a couple of his beautiful blonde employees to tie me to a bed. Thinking along the lines of one holding the other two books in front of my eyes while the other ladies do unspeakably delicious things to me. I wasn’t disappointed by the end of the story … until I found out that the lovely and I have to add, gullable Miss Steele appears in not one, but both of the other books. Talk about jumping on the bandwagon.

Now, as I said at the start of this diatribe, I’m no expert in the field, but this trilogy looks like an excuse to explore in writing, the ascending levels of pleasure that the BDSM brigade would enjoy in their fun-filled lives.

Sorry Mrs. James, I’m only being honest. I will say thank you for one thing. You have by your success made me feel more like publishing my efforts on Kindle. So with that in mind, I’m off to imagine what I could get up to in the privacy of my own mind.

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So what is all the fuss about? I read about Wunderlist in Writing Magazine recently and I had to check it out. It’s one of several Time/Project Management programmes that were reviewed and one of the main appeals of this programme was that is was FREE.

It takes a few minutes to download and the Tutorial Screen is the start point for the user. It gives simple instructions to get the user underway – and I did it relatively quickly. Clicking on ‘Add List’ at bottom right gives the user a space in the menu above to type in a Task; i.e. Short Stories.

Wunderlist graphic 2 — Task List Screen – the breakdown.

We’ll suggest here that the user has produced a general Menu of Tasks. The next stage is to select a particular Task and compile a breakdown. When the Task is selected (in this case Short Stories), it produces a screen with the Task name shown at the top – below is a place to to type in the breakdown (where there is a clock and ‘add your text here’). The user types in the first part or breakdown of the Task and then presses the Return key. Another line opens to produce the next entry and so on.

On each part of the Task if the cursor is hovered over the right hand end of the line it brings into view a ‘clock’ a ‘list’ and an ‘x’.

Clicking on the clock produces a calendar so that the user can select a target date for completion if desired. Once chosen it is shown as the date in figures to act as a reminder.

Clicking on the ‘list’ takes the user to another screen where much more detail can be listed. As seen below. When detail has been made for a particular task the ‘list’ symbol remains opposite the task to remind you there is more written.

Clicking on the ‘x’ not surprisingly gives the option to delete the task. Enough said there I think.

Wunderlist graphic 3 — Getting into the detail of the individual parts of the Task

Clicking on an individual part of a Task (or in this case the title of the particular Short Story), produces another screen. Here the user can list as much detail as required. In my Short Stories listings, not surprisingly I’m using this for each synopsis.

I will be using Wunderlist from now on to replace my previous method which was the useful, but restrictive ‘post-it notes’ of Windows 7′. The post-it notes idea was good as a memory-jogger but detail still had to be written elsewhere. With Wunderlist everything is in one place, located, edited or worked on one step at a time.

I’m using the system mainly for my writing but also for my other Tasks. Once it’s been played around with for a short while it really is easy to use and adapt. There are options to register online and synchronise the list to an application you may have, like iPad, Android device etc. Personally I have no intention of putting the synchronisation into practise because I’ll be content to use it as a standalone.