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‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ – the ‘Twilight’ fanfic-turned-film – featured by Entertainment Weekly

By Andrew Sims (@Sims) at 2:45 pm, March 29, 2012

Perhaps looking to jump onto the next big book-turned-film very early, Entertainment Weekly‘s latest issue (on newsstands tomorrow) is a duel, featuring one cover with an established franchise and one with a newcomer.

One version of the March 30th edition features The Hunger Games’ Katniss, while the other features Fifty Shades of Grey – a book recently optioned by Universal and Focus Features.

It’s interesting that an entertainment magazine would decide to feature this project so early. Are they hoping to get on the bandwagon well in advance?

Fifty Shades of Grey was originally released as Twilight fanfic.

View the latest articles in: Books

TeamBella76

Not surprising it reads like Twilight. Stephenie should sue and the main character is a wannabe Edward just saying …
Lotte

The coverage, success and distribution makes me sick. Just sick. I really wonder if there are any standards left, as E.J. James STOLE the characters of another author. I do not care how weak an author is (as Meyer isn’t the best one), but she managed to create two characters you truly cared for. I mean, otherwise there would not be such a huge demand for FF’s. And James is using it and so many people allow, even worse, support it.

And yes, the story still has many, many similarities to Twilight. While the story itself is different, the heart and skeleton of the story is the same. The characters and the background and all the small details are directly stolen from the Twilight universe. I am too tired and annoyed to list them all, but quite a few people already did so. Do not believe me? Google it. In my humble opinion, creating interesting characters you truly care and feel for, are the most difficult aspect. And Ana and Christina are just copies of the already existing Bella and Edward.

Even the agent lies by claiming the story was reworked. She changed the names and an university checked via turnitin the similarities. It is almost 90%. You have to pay for a story you once got entirely for free just for a very few differences! Thank god I have a PDF of MOTU, so I never even have to be tempted. Funnily enough, no one ever answers the really simple questions: how far can an author go? Sadly enough, just steal other characters and use them in your story. Apparantly you get 5mil dollar book and movie deals…

I am mad and I would hope sites like this would not publish such selfish links. Alas, I am in tge minority anyway and I can already count the second until I’ll get slammed for this comment.

P.S. To already say it in advance, as it is the favorite argument, no I am not jealous of E.J. James. I never even wrote a book in my entire life. What should I envy her for? And yes, I liked the story as FF, but not in this shape in form reading about Bella and Edward just with different names…
- Laura
  
  Exactly. And if I had been a fan of her Master of the Universe fanfic, I would feel used. She owes the Twilight fandom everything and she repays them with a flip of her hair and the request for money for a previously free fanfic.
  
  This women deserves none of her success beyond her popularity on fanfiction.net. Unfortunately, it looks like most of the media is willing to turn a blind eye.
  - ethelouise
    
    I am one of those fans who read MOTU on Fanfiction as it was being published. The author published her story on fanfiction, providing entertainment to me and thousands of others without compensation for her time or talent, and I am the one that should feel used?
    
    Then she “requested” money for the previously free fanfic? No, she sold books, which people can could choose to purchase or not. I chose to purchase the books. I love the books. I am thrilled for the author and her success.
    - Lotte
      
      With all due respect, but there is a huge difference publishing a story for free with the world and characters of a different author or actually trying to get profit for it. There is a reason it is called FAN FICTION. It is so that that we live in a world now where theft is actually celebrated and accept.
      
      Based on the fact that E.J. James used almost to a T the exact same world and characters as Twilight, she does not deserve compensation. And no, her fans should in no shape or form be asked to pay. They should be able to still get it free from the internet, as it was originally published.
      
      A lot of people claim that FSoG are Twilight are absolute different stories and E.J. James therefore has the right to publish this and earn money. I do not know how people actually miss it, the the story line itself and the entire setting (that includes even the tiniest details such as Ana driving a old car and her father loves fishing) are completely and entirely like Twilight. Thus, the stole an entire concept of another author. Actually the hardest part of being creative enough to envision a world with characters readers truly care for. She did not do and she used YOU and the entire Twilight FF community. Do you really believe you would be that fascinated and enchanted if it would not have started as a Bella/Edward fic? Granted that the physical and emotional description of Ana and Christian is almost still the same, do you truly see new characters? Because, at least in their subconsciousness, I do guess most people still envision them as Bella/Edward (or Kristen/Rob).
      
      I read it as FF myself. I LIKED it as FF. I thought she has some talent, even if I had my problems with certain character traits of both Bella and Edward quite a few times. However I also remember quite a few readers pointing out in reviews that she manages to stay so close to canon and to the storyline of Twilight but just in a different setting. James did not change much from the FF and published version. Hence, those similarities still exist. Hence, she has no right to claim this is entirely her own work.
      
      Furthermore, I feel like I can judge because I read the first edited version in the published format. It is still the same storyline with minor differences. I do have a PDF for free of this story.
      
      I really hope people would be more critical in this case and actually think about the consequences. Meyer could shut down the entire FF fandom (and I would totally support her). Other peoples work might be ripped of soon. I guess I can go ahead now and write a story about a little boy called Henry, who figures out he is a merman with special abilities and has to fight the dark forces with his best friends Rupert and Hedwig, as they attend a special school for merman and mermaids.
  - Lotte
    
    Exactly, it is rather sad to watch the entire development. This entire coverage is definitively not good for my blood sugar…
    
    Funny thing, what would happen if someone would obviously rip-off James idea and publish it as original, successful fiction…?
- http://twitter.com/greeneggsplusam Sam
  
  It’s ridiculous. I don’t know how people can viciously attack Cassandra Clare for drawing some OCs from a HP fanfic but they let this book slide?
  - Ida
    
    It really should not slide. It’s so blatantly obvious who the characters are based on it’s criminal.
Gary65

Unless I have an extreme misunderstanding of the context, the word is “dual” btw, not “duel”.
- Hazel
  
  Unless it’s meant to pit Twilight fans against THG fans… lol
  - Gary65
    
    I would hope Hypable would have strong enough grasp on their viewers’ attitudes to know that any attempt to pit fans of 2 fandoms against one another is just sad.
    
    Both are good but they are also separate and should be kept that way :D
rdh014

I just read the synopsis of this book series.

WHAT?? just WHAT??

THIS IS PRACTICALLY PORN.

Needless to say I will not be seeing this film.
Ida

I read it for the LOL’s. It was hilarious when it wasn’t boring. When you have read about 90% of the book and just can’t be bothered to finish it, you know it’s bad.

And yes, it’s really easy to spot that this was ones Twilight fanfiction. Ana drools over Christian Grey just as much or even more than Bella did with Edward. The word ‘Adonis’ is even used to describe him in the very first chapter. And you could really tell that the author didn’t care squat about developing the side characters.

This is brain-dead entertainment at best. It doesn’t even deserve to be called literature.
Andrea

I personally write fanfiction for FF and I have never felt used because I don’t receive compensation for my writing. And I use OCs all the time. So, saying that E.J. James should feel used because she was not similarly compensated for providing her readers with entertainment is completely ridiculous. I mean, I haven’t read this book and I hadn’t really intended to because from what people are saying, it really is just Twilight set in an AU with the same characters who happen to have different names.
Kelly

Well, if this author hadn’t published stuff on fanfiction dot net first, we would have no idea what it was based on. Face it, the twilight set up isn’t exactly unique. The setting is not the original, the car she drove, her father’s hobbies, whatever else they offer as “proof” that this woman has “stolen” these characters…we wouldn’t know if she hadn’t been honest about her sources and how things came to be. I’ve written original stories that have started in my head as fan fiction. You start with something that inspires you and spin it into something else, shaping and changing as you go. I don’t think it’s such a big deal, and while the set up may mimic Twilight…let’s face it, a lot of things are very similar to Twilight. (and not just “Twilight”, you read enough you see a lot of overlap). She clearly made her own story in the end and she’s gotten a lot of success from it. Kudos.
- Lucia
  
  I think you’ve missed the point of most people’s unhappiness. Starting from another work is exactly what fanfiction is, and there’s nothing wrong with it…until you start making money from it. There’s definitely no way this story would have come about without Twilight, and the only reason anyone know’s what it is at all is because of its publication as a fanfiction. It used a previously established franchise to do the marketing for it, and I think that’s what most people have a problem with – you shouldn’t be able to make money like that when you effectively did nothing. Yes, she wrote the story, but it’s not HER story really.
- Lucia
  
  I think you’ve missed the point of most people’s unhappiness. Starting from another work is exactly what fanfiction is, and there’s nothing wrong with it…until you start making money from it. There’s definitely no way this story would have come about without Twilight, and the only reason anyone know’s what it is at all is because of its publication as a fanfiction. It used a previously established franchise to do the marketing for it, and I think that’s what most people have a problem with – you shouldn’t be able to make money like that when you effectively did nothing. Yes, she wrote the story, but it’s not HER story really.
http://www.facebook.com/apiantedosi Adriana Piantedosi

while i’m not keen on seeing more mary-sue bella-esque books and films being produced, i gotta say, this is sort of cool.

so, i haven’t read the book, and as mentioned in other comments, if it is a ‘rip-off’ of twilight that seems lame as hell. both from an ‘oh great, more cookie-cutter crap to make a quick buck off of’ way and also in the way of rewarding completely unoriginal writing to the point of near plagiarism.

but on the other hand, it’s a very interesting thing to see everyday people able to reach a level of success that, without the internet, would not have been possible before. perhaps this isn’t great if the book is so similar to twilight, but it is exciting because it opens the door for very good fanfiction (that tells its own story and builds off of original mainstream work without exactly copying them), has a chance of real success outside the realm of a particular fandom on the internet.

especially because, when you think about it, fanfiction isn’t relegated to the realm of the internet. look at books and films like “Wicked” and “Alice” that take the same characters as an original work but puts such an interesting twist on them that it can stand on its own two feet as its own literary work.
Briarose

Okay I like fanfictions. But this is too far. It’s an insult to Stephenie Meyer that he is making money off of her creation. It just isn’t right. I’m not even a huge twilight fan, but the movie is already made…a fanfic film would just be wrong.
- Penpal210
  
  First of all, the author is a SHE. Second of all, her story has nothing to do with Twilight. Completely different story here girl. I suggest you read the story first before you start bashing someone’s hard work publicly over the internet. I just read fifty shades of Grey and loved it. I’m now in the process of reading the second book. And by the way, Twilight started as a fanfic for Buffy/Angel as Stephanie Meyers admitted in an interview. If you compare those two stories they have nothing in common. Only similarity is the fact that they both have vampires. Twilight is it’s own fantasy fic. Fifty shades has nothing to do with vampires or fantasy. It’s simply a novel about a wealthy troubled business man Christan Grey who falls in love with an innocent young woman Anastasia Steel. She helps him overcome his troubled past and teaches him how to love. Chistian’s mother was a crackwhore and he was abused as a child by her pimp. When his mother dies he was found days later almost starved to death, he was just a toddler then. Because of his abuse and lack of love as a child be became cold and distant with people and later became a ruthless businessman. Anastasia is a woman who teaches him how to love and trust and she helps him overcome his troubled past.
elfBecky

People sure are upset about this book/ movie! I’ve read both the fan fic and the Shades of Grey series. I happily paid for Shades and don’t at all feel scammed out of the hours of reading I enjoyed.

If you’re thinking about reading Shades, but afraid it’s a rip off of Twilight I assure you it’s not. First hint that it’s not the same book or even the same story is where you would find this book in the store. Twilight is in the “Young Adult” section, while Shades is rightfully in “Erotica.”

I think the mistake that James (the author) made was publishing this as a fan fic in the first place. If it had never been a fan fic, I doubt anyone would have seen similarities. I probably would have related the story more to a Kinky Cinderella had I never read the fan fic. A simple girl fakes being someone she’s not and ends up meeting the prince, the prince seeks her out and sweeps her away from her mundane life to a fairy tale of intrigue and kinky sex.

Where is the line when as to when this type of thing becomes theft? Well, I’d say that’s up to Stephenie. She knows her work better than anyone, if she doesn’t have a problem with it and hasn’t sought legal action, then it’s probably safe.
cassi

this has nothing to do with twilight! i’ve read all three books and there are no similarities whatsoever! totally different story here people! i hate people comparing this story to twilight. i read twilight and hated it!

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‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ – the ‘Twilight’ fanfic-turned-film – featured by Entertainment Weekly

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