Isabelle Drake's Blog, page 72

Better ending for the movie Young Adult

By the time I reached my car after seeing Young Adult, I had rewritten the end. My new improved ending is so clear in my mind, that I can barely remember the actual ending.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the movie and plan to and don't want it ruined for you, don't read this whole post. Just read the two next sentences.

It is not a fun movie to go see with your best friends and expect to leave laughing. It is....um ...well written (at least the new improved version in my head) with good acting, but it is not fun.

I wasn't expecting depressing, so I was caught off guard. It really isn't fair of marketing people to market a movie as one thing when it is actually another. There just isn't enough in the trailer or ads to really capture exactly what the audience gets. The trailer sells it (the new improved version) short.

To experience the new improved ending to do the following.
Watch movie as is until the scene when Mavis is in bed, waking up for the second time with a guy's arms across her chest. (echo) Cut the rest of movie. Replace with the following scenes:
Mavis leaves the guy's house. Goes back to hotel. Takes her dog for a walk. (character growth)Gets in her car. Drives to the end of the parking lot and stops. Gets a plot idea and stops to write it down. Woman behind her honks. Mavis flips her off and mutters about small town bitches, continues writing until she is done. (hope for her improvement, yet don't over-do the character growth) Mavis merges onto the freeway. She hits play on the tape player. It's the same song she listened to on the way home. She pops the tape out the throws it out the window. (again, shows hope but don't want to over-do the character growth)

More French vampires

I'm still working my through the the Jean Rollin vampire movies on Netflix. Last night I watched The Shiver of the Vampires (1970). If you like groovy and vampires, you'll like this.

The plot is one of my personal favorites.

Honeymoon couple stops off to see family they haven't seen in years. They arrive at the isolated place of residence to find things are not as they expected. (!)  Things are odd. The family members are strange. (!) One of the honeymooners wants to leave. The other wants to stay. Tension increases. Weird things happen.

In this case, the weird things happen in French with subtitles and are done by frequently topless women. Unfairly, the men are not much to look at. Unless you have a thing for red and purple velvet.

My favorite moments:
The bride groom has to go chase some girls who'd just climbed into his bed naked and then run off. He first ties on a sweet, sheer floral scarf and _then_gets the gun out of the box.The same man must fix the car. He first ties on pale yellow neckerchief and_then_fixes the car. A woman vampire is complaining to the other two male vampires. She says she does all the work. The other two, she tells them, are bourgeoisie vampires. The same woman vampire rises up from nowhere several times. Once from a clock. Once from a fireplace. Once from a fountain. You get the idea. Things don't make sense.Serious note. The use of color, lighting, and camera angles in awesome.  Go watch it.

The Nude Vampire by Jean Rollin

 If you're into trippy pop culture and vampires, you ought to check out French Director Jean Rollin's movies. I watched one last night, The Nude Vampire. It was in French with English dubbing.I prefer subtitles, but in this case it wouldn't have mattered much because there are about 6 sentences of dialogue.

The video clip of the opening scene gives you a pretty good idea of what you're in for.

I'm not complaining about the dialogue. But don't try to watch this while knitting or messing with your phone because you'll miss pretty much everything. Don't watch it around kids, either, because there are a lot of naked people and strange clothes. Both of which will require so much explaining that you will miss the slowly developing plotline.

Don't expect an upbeat ending. It is French. 

Do expect a surreal experience.

Suggested accompanying drink: red wine. Of course.

...another gift consideration

A Jane Austin action figure.

Jane Austin comes with a quill pen, desk, and copy of Pride and Prejudice.

Now there's an idea many writers could get stressed about-being sealed into a tidy package with a copy of your own book. If nobody buys you, you'd be sealed in there for all eternity with only your own work to read. Over and over again.

I suppose if you had that quill and desk, you could write yourself a new one. If the ink didn't run out, that is.

Got gifts?

Warning: this post is kind of snarky.
Earlier this month I was thinking about gifts for writers. I did what alot of my students do when they have important questions about life; I turned to about.com.  I don't know anything about the writers at about.com. Well, that's not true anymore because now I know that they have an excellent sense of humor. The gift suggestions are darkly hilarious.
Among them:
A magazine subscription.Like our desks aren't *already* piled with words (ours and other people's) we don't have time to read.
Books on writing.Don't writers only turn to those in times of horrible desperation? When they are convinced that they only wrote something decent by accident and they will never, ever, write anything good again? They turn to the how to write books in the hope that they might find a tiny something that will help them fake their way through whatever terrible, terrible manuscript they are currently ruining with their bad, bad writing.  
Tickets to see an admired writer.One, aren't these things supposed to be free? Two, good God, is there anything worse than hearing someone else talk about their huge writing success? Especially when you, the gifted writer, is facing the guilt from the magazines and journals you have not read and the shame of sneeking in dark corners to discover whatever secret will enable you to keep fooling everyone that you are a writer to be admired?
Next gift suggestion: A journal filled with blank pages.Oh yeah. That is exactly what every writer wants. A crap ton of more blank pages to fill.  'Nuf said.Alright, I admit the whole list wasn't ironically funny. The fifth item: a massage.This sounds awesome. Especially if the masseuse  doesn't speak English. That way they won't ask what you do for a living, and make you remember why you need the massage so badly in the first place.

Letting off Steam, new release

 Out today from Ellora's Cave


After rugged loner, Harrison Denton, spends a night in Carly Jameson's barn, she realizes she's missed an opportunity to have a no-holds-barred, no-strings-attached roll in the hay. But after years of holding back and letting the opinions of other people control her actions, it will take a determined and capable man to bring the wild out in Carly.


Luckily for her, the rough and ready man who has just come into her life has what it takes. When the two of them come together, Harrison is forced to face facts: sex with Carly is more than a one-time opportunity to let off some steam. It's a very personal challenge that just may loosen the grief holding his heart hostage.

 Hit here to read an excerpt.
****

Love the Jimmy Thomas cover

Kindlegraphs-Personally signed kindle editions

The ebook world just shifted because now you can get your kindle editions signed by the author. I signed my first kindle edition a couple minutes ago and the thing I love about it is that there is space for a personalized note.

If you own a Kindle edition of one of my books, I'd love to kindlegragh it. The request is simple.

Here's the link to request: Isabelle Drake Kindlegraphs

Cave Chaos, Ellora's Cave Radio

On August 1, Ellora's Cave founder and Chief Strategic Officer Jaid Black will launch Cave Chaos, a hilarious, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the inner workings of Ellora's Cave. The weekly, hour-long, live talk radio show airs every Monday from 4 to 5pm Eastern Time (1-2pm Pacific Time). The first show airs August 1! Keep reading to find out how.


The shows are anchored by blatantly and unapologetically in-your-face hosts Jaid Black (@JaidBlack) and Lisa Marie Gray (@ECBadGirl) and will cover every taboo topic under the sun as it relates to the female sexual experience. If the subject matter is politically incorrect and considered off-limits, Black and Gray are all over it.
 
For more information, check out (and like) the Cave Chaos Facebook  and the radio station's page .

Rock and Roll Fantasy, new relase from Total-E-Bound

What do you think? Are guys with tattoos hot?

Both the heros in my new relase, Rock and Roll Fantasy have tattoo. And they're both rock stars, so they pretty much have to have tattoos, right?

Maybe one of the reasons people like tattoos is because they represent the rebellion that is pretty much a part of being young. The heroine in my story, Karrie Nicol used to be rebellious, but somewhere along the way, she started thinking that to be a real adult, you had to do things the "right way" and that meant putting aside pure fun. I had to write this story for her so she could see that just isn't the case.
Hit here to read more about this new relase and check out the excerpt.

Zombies in a snow storm~new free read

Undone by the Undead a free read out now from Ellora's Cave
The Boston Public Library is a lonely place to be in the middle of a snow storm, but Hayden Thomas isn't going anywhere until he gets what he wants--information about zombies he can use for a tabloid newspaper article he's writing. A book on zombie sex rituals promises something fresh, exactly what he needs to please his boss who's convinced the undead are combing the streets.
The problem is, Hayden has been buried in books and research for so long, he can't resist the urgent, sexual advances of the smudgy-eyed girl in tattered tights who climbs in through the library window. But is she human, his imagination, or a zombie needing human flesh?


Get it now for free!