Fifty Lessons from "Fifty Shades of Grey"

Taken in part from "Writers Unboxed" blog Posted: 06 Aug 2013, featuring Lisa Cron (LC) and Donald Maass (DM) who probe the secrets of this mega-bestseller.

Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has sold 70 million copies and counting.

So poorly written, so surface, so . . . compelling people can’t seem to put it down.

Why? Why? Why?

Maybe Fifty Shades isn’t as poorly written as it seems?

Yes, Anastasia says “inner goddess” so many times that if you used it as a drinking game, you’d be in rehab before you finished reading. [taken from "Writers Unboxed"]

There are a surprising number of things that E.L. James does so deftly that it genuinely blinds readers to the shoddy prose. She hooks them. And she holds them. The question is: how?

The Hook

1. Anastasia’s POV is intimately personal, making her inner life warmly accessible. No omniscient narration. — DM
2. The novel opens with a self-deprecating line that taps into a universal lament – “ . . . scowled with frustration at myself in the mirror” — thus instantly endearing us to Anastasia. –LC
   
3. On the first page we are immediately catapulted into a situation in progress — something has gone wrong that’s forcing Anastasia to take an action she’d really rather not – triggering a sense of urgency. –LC
4. Anastasia and Christian come together under exotic conditions…yet are drawn together by an ordinary need for love. –DM
5. Writing about forbidden [sex] allows the reader to experience danger from a distance. –LC
6. Anastasia is intrigued rather than repulsed by BDSM, further disarming the reader. -DM

The Characters — Anastasia

1. Anastasia has a life (we can like her) yet it’s missing something (we can hope for her). –DM
2. Anastasia’s flaws – beginning with her clumsiness – make her accessible and endearing . . . –LC
3. . . . and not just to the reader. The very things that embarrass her the most – like falling head first into Christian’s office the instant they meet – are what draw him to her. –LC
4. Anastasia is not your typical movie-star-beautiful “drop dead gorgeous” blonde, allowing the rest of us mortals to identify with her.  –LC
5. Because we’ve already accepted Anastasia as an underdog – she’s not as pretty as her roommate, she isn’t a fashion plate – by the time we discover that she is, in fact, beautiful (and with flawless skin, no less), we’re happy for her rather than put off. –LC
6. Anastasia resists her desire for Christian--she’s inwardly conflicted. – DM
7. Anastasia’s fear – and curiosity – mirror our own, so she becomes our surrogate in a world that otherwise, regardless how alluring, might be too scary to venture into. –LC
8. Anastasia is so sexually inexperienced that we feel protective of her, rather than intimidated by her. –LC
9. Anastasia stands up for herself often enough that, even when she allows Christian to dominate her, she doesn’t seem all that submissive. –LC
10. Anastasia has a wry sense of humor, and never feels sorry for herself, takes herself too seriously, or worse, too earnestly. –LC

The Characters — Christian

1. Christian has opposing sides: he’s cold and distant…yet he’s reaching out. –DM
2. Christian continually tells Anastasia that everything she does must be for his own pleasure, and yet in his actions, he seems much more interested in making sure she gets what she needs. –LC
3. What’s unlikely about Christian (billionaire, BDSM) is balanced by what’s familiar (why can’t men commit?). –DM
4. Christian accepts, adores and wants Anastasia no matter what, at all times: the devotion that defines romantic stories and affirms the universal value held by readers. – DM
5. Christian, for all his sex slave bravado, is anxious for Anastasia to be honest with him at all times, and to fearlessly tell him exactly what she feels – a perfect female fantasy. –LC
6. Christian’s external goal: the safety of a contract-bound submissive sex slave, is at odds with his internal goal: surrendering to his very real feelings for Anastasia. –LC

The Technique

1. The prose is plain, meaning easy to read. – DM
2. Anastasia and Christian directly and constantly engage on the page. –DM
3. The unfolding of Anastasia and Christian’s relationship happens mostly through dialogue. –DM
4. Because we know what Christian claims he wants, we always know when he deviates from it – which makes us wonder why. –LC
5. The author doesn’t keep either Christian’s or Anastasia’s true goal a secret. We know from the get-go that these two were meant for each other. We spend the entire novel rooting for them to find a way to make that possible. –LC
6. Both Christian and Anastasia clearly feel something for each other beyond “mere” lust, grounding their erotic adventures in the promise of true love, thus making their sexual adventures appear much safer than they’d otherwise seem. –LC
7. Although Christian continually insists on hard and fast rules, he just as continually bends to Anastasia’s reservations, which keeps us guessing as to what his reaction will be. –LC
8. The fantasy elements are grounded in very earthbound details, reactions, and events, so that it doesn’t feel as utterly improbable as – let’s face it — it actually is. –LC
9. Because Christian [thinks] he knows exactly what he wants – and isn’t shy about stating it — Anastasia always has something clear and specific to react to. –LC
10. The story revolves around a single problem that complicates, there are no digressions or subplots that don’t directly impact on it. –LC
11. Conflict comes from legitimate misunderstandings, rather than coincidence or genuinely (and flatly) evil people. –LC
12. Every scene triggers the scene that follows it, so that we have a continual cause-and-effect trajectory that builds in intensity. –LC
13. The story is spurred by earned irony.  Anastasia’s roommate tries to help her win Christian, putting Anastasia in jeopardy. –LC
14. Friends and family fill in the world around the protagonists. (Christian’s mother, Anastasia’s father, Kate, José, others.) The secondary characters are warmly supportive. –DM
15. Food and sleep--primary human needs, which are met--are a preoccupation and are universal points of connection for readers. –DM
16. Each scene comes with a ticking clock, forcing Anastasia to make escalating decisions.
17. All of Anastasia’s internal thoughts are tied to what’s happening in the moment, and to a burning decision she must make quickly – thus she never bores us by musing aimlessly, digressing or floating away on a meandering stream of consciousness to nowhere. –LC
18. Anastasia is often surprised by her own reaction to things, which allows her to probe them for meaning. She discovers her own path right before our eyes. –LC
19. The reader is often a step ahead of Anastasia, so when she feels things that she can’t explain – usually about her attraction to Christian – we know why. Tension arises because we want her to see what we already know. –LC
20. We’re always in Anastasia’s head, so we know exactly what she’s thinking — which is often in direct contradiction with what she’s actually saying. –LC
21. From the first page to the last, Anastasia is constantly questioning the “why” of everything. –LC
22. We always have a clear picture of what Anastasia expects, so when her expectations aren’t met (and they rarely are), we know it, instantly anticipating how it will affect her. –LC
23. When Anastasia tries to make sense of what’s happening to her, she often references her past, so we get revealing bits of her backstory in service of what’s happening in the moment. –LC
24. Anastasia continually analyzes Christian’s actions, trying to figure out what he really means, and what she should do about it. More tension. –LC
25. We know the very specific question Anastasia is searching for the answer to: what, exactly, happened to Christian that made him terrified of being touched? –LC
26. We know why Anastasia wants to find the answer to that question: she’s hoping that that knowledge will help her heal his wound so they can be together outside the “Red Room of Pain.” –LC
27. Anastasia doesn’t take anything at face value; she knows that the meaning of what Christian does is determined by why he does it. . –LC 
28. As Anastasia begins to understand why Christian does what he does, her view of his actions change. –LC
29. Anastasia’s physical description is always laced with subtext, and primarily comes from other people’s reaction to her, rather than a flat out description-for-description’s sake. –LC
30. Anastasia’s internal conflict is front and center throughout – she continually struggles to make sense what is really happening, and what the right thing to do is. The novel thus has moral significance. –LC
31. The sex always pushes either Anastasia or Christian into places that he or she is not at all sure they can go. –LC
32. The reader learns about an exotic (Dominant/Submissive) world as Anastasia learns about it. This world is highly detailed. –DM

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The Inner & Outer Journeys

1. Anastasia is on a journey toward self-knowledge. (“Am I submissive?”) –DM
2. Anastasia rejects what she most wants. (In e-mail: “It was nice knowing you.”) –DM
3. Anastasia bargains (negotiates the contract) but cannot alter the scale of the challenge (“This is who I am.”) and ultimately accepts the challenge. –DM
4. Anastasia’s wide-eyed sexual innocence and naiveté is offset by the complete abandon with which she throws herself into sating her desire for Christian. –LC
5. Anastasia feels no guilt—only pleasure—upon surrendering her virginity. Shame is removed from sexual desire. –DM
6. Anastasia’s journey shows the reader something in a new way (“Feeling pleasure, when one isn’t supposed to.”) – DM
7. It’s Christian’s flaws – and what he went through as a small child – that endear him to Anastasia . . . significantly alter her take on what would she’d otherwise see as unacceptable behavior. –LC
8. Anastasia’s goal is to unearth the trauma in Christian’s past that will explain why Christian wants to dominate her, exorcize his demons and heal him. –LC
9. Christian wants Anastasia but is not in a hurry. He does not make his intentions immediately known--either to Anastasia or to the reader. (The author is withholding.) -DM
10. Christian is coy and teasing; Anastasia blushes. He wants to know everything about her. It is a traditional courtship. -DM
11. Christian then announces that he’s unavailable (“I don’t do the girlfriend thing.”): huge, fatal obstacle. –DM 
12. Simultaneously, Anastasia admits her desire to herself (“And for the first time in twenty-one years, I want to be kissed. I want his mouth on mine.”): an enormous, irresolvable conflict is thus set in place. -DM
13. Christian sends Anastasia gifts (first edition Thomas Hardy novels) that show insight into her; i.e., he is an aware and observant man -DM
14. Christian rescues her (she’s drunk in a bar), nurses her (she vomits) and tucks her safely into bed. He is a guardian. -DM
15. Christian warns her (“Once you’re enlightened, you probably won’t want to see me again.”). He is a gentleman. -DM
16. Upon bringing her to his “playroom” he makes it clear that she may leave at any time. He makes her safe. –DM
17. Christian reveals his innermost shame to her. (“The woman who brought me into this world was a crack whore.”) -DM
18. Christian’s charitable giving is motivated by both high principle and personal need. He is outwardly and inwardly directed. –DM
19. Christian demands that Anastasia follow his rules (to keep him from feeling vulnerable), but because what he really wants is her love (and so he is vulnerable), she’s able to outsmart him at every turn, simply refusing to play by said rules. –LC
20. Anastasia completes her inner journey. (“I’ve fallen in love with you, Christian.” . . . even while, “I don’t think I can be everything you want me to be.”) Although Anastasia and Christian end up apart, Anastasia has come to know herself. –DM

When a book becomes a phenomenon there’s a reason. Hate it if you like, but the wiser course is to understand how such a book grips so many readers--then steal the methods and use them for your own ends.

E.L. James created characters whose warmth, openness and inner conflicts are close to universal. Fundamentally, Anastasia and Christian are two humans searching for each other, healing and love.

The moral values beneath James’s story are age old. Purity and the one-true-love ideal. Nothing revolutionary.

Great fiction not only moves our hearts but makes us think.

Fifty Shades of Grey merely affirms that which many readers believe. Behind the gimmick there’s a simple and unchallenging message.

James’s novel is popular, but popularity and greatness are two different things.

So, why not take away fifty lessons to make your fiction broadly appealing, but then go beyond that and make your fiction great?


Writing tips added and pertinent to the lesson, taken from "The Emotional Thesaurus'

• Make it a goal to offer the reader something unexpected in every scene be it an emotional reaction, roadblock, or snippet of dialogue that sheds new light on the events unfolding.
• When a character is hiding an emotion, the cues are not always noticeable. In this circumstance, it's often better to show emotion through change—altering a speech pattern, falling back on an old habit, posture shifts.
• Don't be afraid to challenge your characters' morals. Putting them in situations that are outside their comfort zone will make them squirm and the reader will too.
• For each scene, identify the emotion you need to show and think in terms of three: What three ways have you reinforced the character's feelings through verbal and non-verbal communication.
• To generate friction in dialogue give the participants opposing goals. A heightened emotional response is the natural result of not getting what one wants.
• Don't make it easy for your heroes. Pile on the difficulties. Overwhelm them. Make it seemingly impossible for them to succeed so that when they do overcome, the reader will be properly impressed.