Day 3: 50 Shades from an Author's perspective

One thing I find interesting about the hype around the 50 Shades franchise is the amount of authors speaking out against it and pornography.

I found multiple facebook posts, blog posts and articles about how lots of authors feel negatively about 50 shades. A common theme is: They all agree that the books are poorly written.

Many authors have commented on how shocked they are that such poor writing could become such a best seller.

Some of them have a problem with the thematic material, others don't. Some feel like the author is irresponsible for writing about dangerous acts in a way that they say doesn't portray the real danger.

Michelle Wilson, author of "Does This Insecurity Make Me Look Fat?" said in a facebook post from yesterday:

"Pornography comes in many forms, but the damage is the same. It numbs the spirit. It thwarts the realness and power of love. It creates a need and desire for more of itself."

 Michelle's Author Page: http://www.michellewilsonatlarge.com/

Another Friend of mine, Tara Mayoros, Author of "Broken Smiles" wrote this blog post yesterday on "50 Shades of Grey". It is a very good post, from the heart, on how the book affected her. It has quotes from other authors as well. Here is the link:

"Fifty Shades of Grey... my $.02 from an author's perspective."

I also read an article on how the fan fiction site that the author of 50 shades started out on is essentially not happy about the 50 shades success. They site multiple reasons including bad writing (see, it's a common theme). I was going to post the link here, and then I saw a less than appropriate picture off to the side. So, I won't post that here.

But it is an interesting side of this story.

Personally, as an author, I think that writers have a responsibility to 1) tell the truth. Even if you have a fiction piece, or a character that lies like crazy, you should have truth behind the story. Some relevance, ability to relate, etc.

2) I think that all creators and artists across all media outlets and forms should be aware of the impact that their works will have on society. Some times the only impact is that the art or writings are fun and popular. Other times an author or artist can wear away at a part of society. Some times that's good, like when an author is advocating for a needed change. And sometimes that's bad, like when a movie pushes the line of indecency. Because next time someone goes to push the line it will be further down the road and eventually we won't ever be able to see the morals of yesterday.