Following a movie bidding war and a feature in Entertainment Weekly, Fifty Shades of Grey‘s popularity continues to grow.
Author E.L. James sat down for a lengthy interview with ABC’s 20/20 and Good Morning America to discuss the rapid success, how she did research for the book, and more:
She wrote the books, she said, as her “midlife crisis.”
“It’s all my fantasies in, in one thing,” she said.
Ironically, James says that “Twilight” author Stephanie Meyer’s books were her inspiration, even though Meyer’s main characters spend most of the series choosing not to have sex.
“I was inspired by Stephanie Meyer. She just flipped this switch,” James said.
Notwithstanding their diverging approaches, some of Meyer’s fans became James’ fans too, and word soon spread about the titillating stories on the Web. An independent publisher put the books out online and within a year, more than a quarter of a million books had been sold. Since then, a book deal with Vintage and a movie deal with Universal — reportedly valued at $5 million — followed.
Article Continues BelowBut while her books became a worldwide phenomenon, James is trying to stay under the radar as much as as she can. The British author uses a pen name — her real first name is Erika — and said she’s trying to maintain normality for her husband and two teenage sons.
Her sons, she said, have not read the books.
“I’d be mortified, and they’d be mortified, you know,” she said. “It’d be far too embarrassing.”
Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels? Read more and watch the interview over here.
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