Review – Page 62

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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NaNoWriMo Certificate — Reminder of an achievement

For those interested in statistics I wrote:

55,460 words organised into 16 chapters and an epilogue in 29 days.

The finished product is a first draft so would need a lot of work to bring it to publishable standard but I’m delighted to have completed the task in the allotted time. It felt today when I posted my final work for verification as if I’d completed a marathon – and I’ve done that twice so I know it’s an accurate analogy. There was that same feeling of elation and exhaustion but spread over a longer time period.

My first attmept at a novel (A LIFE OF CHOICE) which has gone on for years will now get a major revamp. I’ve always thought of the adage, ‘write what you know’ but up until recently I’ve taken it too literally with that story. In my NaNoWriMo story, ‘HAWK, A HUMAN HUNTER’ I found myself easily slipping into the zone each time I worked on it. The characters became living, breathing people. Some I liked, some I despised.

Whatever happens to HAWK, the novel, this has been an invaluable experience and I’m more pleased than I can say that I attempted … and succeeded in completing the challenge. An entire, structured novel written from scratch inside a month.

It seemed only right and fitting that I used my freshly claimed certificate to adorn this post. Having read about the National Novel Writing Month Challenge over the last couple of years and decided it was beyond me, this felt like the right time to try it. The ingredients for a novel may be similar to a short story but the scale of the project is the major difference. My idea from the outset was to use a tight timeline even though it was a novel. In my opinion it would generate pace but only feedback will tell me if I was right.

To relax I’m now going to write a poem about the experience and tomorrow I’ll start a fresh short story.