REX USA/Can Nguyen/RexImagine reading a story similar to Fifty Shades of Grey (but without the whole red room of pain bit) with a main character inspired by none other than Harry Styles.
Anna Todd is the 25-year-old Army wife and author behind After, a Styles fan fiction book that has generated one billion (!) reads online and is being called the next Fifty Shades of Grey. In fact, Paramount Pictures has just bought the screen rights to the book, and Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot have signed on to produce the movie.
And to think, all of this started because Tood was bored one day. "I was reading fan fiction on Wattpad, but they were taking a little bit to update the stories, so I started writing my own stories to entertain myself. I didn't think anyone would read it," she tells E! News.
Being a huge One Direction fan, Anna used one of the singers from the boy band as her muse for the story (but don't worry, all of the guys are in it).
"Tessa is a girl in college. It's not me, but I've realized we have certain things in common," Todd explains. "The male lead in the story just looks like Harry Styles, but he is in college not in a band. All of the 1D boys are in the story. Liam [Payne] is Harry's stepbrother in the book. In the book Harry is Hardin, Louis [Tomlinson] is Logan, Liam is Landan, Niall [Horan] is Nate and Zayn [Malik] is Zedd."
She continues, "It's a coming-of-age story, being in college. Tessa is a sheltered girl raised by her mom to be perfect. Harry is a brooding, grumpy, rude guy who doesn't have many friends. He is just a jerk in the beginning. It's a love-hate thing between Harry and Tessa. They hate each other in the beginning and they fight and then they fall in love. She breaks down all of his walls. It's a very dramatic turn on. They are back and forth and up and down."
And yes, there's sex. "There are definitely sex scenes. I mean, I was writing it for myself...There are adult scenes in the story. There is no S&M. They are regular sex scenes, but very detailed. It's the vanilla version of Fifty Shades of Grey!"
Since there will be a film adaptation of the book, Todd has already thought about who she would cast in the movie.
"I would love Harry to do it, but I can't imagine him getting into that kind of role. He is too sweet to play him. Douglas Booth is my other dream cast," she tells us. "Indiana Evans was cast as Tessa when I was writing the fan fiction on Wattpad, so that's who I would want to play Tessa. However, I trust the producers to pick the perfect Tessa."
After, which is available for purchase now, is the first of four books in the series, which will include After We Collided, After We Fell and After Ever Happy.