Humor

E.L. James to Publish Writing Guide: A GIF Reponse

Amanda Nelson

Staff Writer

Amanda Nelson is an Executive Director of Book Riot. She lives in Richmond, VA.

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In today’s episode of Things That Are Too Horrifying To Respond To With Words Like a Normal Person, Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James will be publishing a writing guide. A guide…to writing. A writing guide. A…I’ll stop. Let’s just move on to the GIFs, using Fox News’ article to guide us (because if you’re gonna talk about ridiculous, go all the way):

The next book from E L James will be a how-to guide on one of life’s most enduring passions: writing.


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Vintage Books announced Monday that James has collaborated with the publisher on “Fifty Shades of Grey: Inner Goddess (A Journal).”


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It combines professional advice from the million-selling author and lined pages for readers to set down their own ideas, or “inner goddess.”


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But will readers really want to learn how to write from the author of “Fifty Shades of Grey”?


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Sure, James’ erotic trilogy has sold more than 70 million copies worldwide, but according to most reviews of the series, James may not exactly be an expert on how to write.


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In Aug. 2011, the Tribune Express’ book reviewer, Norman Ansari, had few kind things to say about James’ writing chops. “’Fifty Shades of Grey’ is poorly written, and that too to a surprising degree. Twice, I stopped reading to check if I had been duped in my purchase or whether I was reading an authentic eBook,” he wrote. Similarly, The New York Times’ Sunday Review writer wrote back in May that “James writes like a Brontë devoid of talent.”


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So will her fans trust the “Fifty Shades” author to teach them how to write? Apparently Vintage — who also published James’ other novels — thinks so.


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Vintage says the journal will have a soft leather cover, “bonded.” The “Inner Goddess” journal will be published May 1.


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