The Fictional In-Between

Here’s a blog I wrote long ago about creators having wills. And a sample will. http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html?m=1

A man who works his body day in and day out and pays his taxes every year to support his family gets nothing when he dies. Most he gets is an insurance plan out of pocket.

Why should I get that sort of luxury? How am I better than the working man? How am I better than someone who worked dozens of times harder than me?

Even then, how are you sure the money is actually going to your estate? How would you make sure your family continues your legacy through hardwork, and not through old money?

Anthony Burgess (who wrote, among other things, A Clockwork Orange) was told (wrongly) he had months to live. He wanted to support his family after he was gone, so he wrote books, fast and well.

He was lucky. It was a misdiagnosis and he didn’t die.

But I’m on the side of Anthony Burgess in this. I’m glad that Douglas Adams’ books took care of his daughter Polly when she was a small child whose father had just died, and more so when, a decade later, her mother died as well.

I’m a writer. What I do is write. I have adult children who are taking care of themselves, and a four year old who can’t. I’m in a couple of Covid risk groups, and could in theory be dead in a couple of weeks. (I hope I’m not.) PWhile there are “more ways to support your family after you’ve gone” that aren’t based around things I’ve made up and written down, I didn’t actually want to stop writing and making things up in order to do them.

I like the idea that when I’m in my seventies the work I did in my twenties will still be in copyright, and will still feed me and my family.

And all of that will be making companies money. So who would you rather want to make money from an author’s work? Some companies or the author’s children?

If you get rid of copyright after an author’s death, it’ll be the companies. And they’ll absolutely butcher the author’s work for profit, because that’s what big media companies do.

(source) On the other side, you have companies like Disney just straight up stealing authors’ work (the whole Star Wars legacy debacle with Alan Dean Foster) and leaving them high and dry with little to no income from works that are still in print and still raking in profit.

Your standard not-Stephen-King authors really are not earning as much as you think they are. The Irish Times ran an article in 2018 highlighting that while news tabloids prefer to talk about big earners like JK R. and Stephen King, the reality of what most authors make is frankly bleak: “The survey of 5,500 professional writers shows that median earnings have plummeted by 42 percent since 2005 and are down 33 percent since the last survey in 2013. Based on a standard 35-hour week, the average full-time writer in the UK earns just €6.50 an hour – €3 less than the legal minimum wage.” (source)

And as Neil pointed out, many authors are left in poverty in their old age with little to no help. A notable Tumblr favorite is Peter Beagle, the author of The Last Unicorn, who lost his rights to his work to his manager and spent years struggling to pay his debts until he regained control of his work in late 2021-to early 2022. (Reddit link with the article because NYT paywalled it.) Peter was selling signed books, DVDs, and pretty much anything he could get his hands on to fund his legal fees. In the end, he was supported by fellow authors and his fans. Should he have been allowed to die in poverty because his book was no longer under his copyright control?

Just as a heads up: I read and give detailed professional feedback on screenplays significantly cheaper than you’ll find coverage on big pro reader sites.

While full coverage can run you $150+ easily for one script, I read scripts for just $15 a piece for features or TV pilots (webseries and short films are only $10). Included in your purchase are a numerical score 1-10, logline, synopsis, a list of strengths and weaknesses, and up to five pages of detailed feedback on your script overall!

As a little background on myself and my qualifications, I have been writing screenplays for five years, and I have two years of professionally reading them (first for a producer looking for scripts to produce, and now for the Atlanta Film Festival) and my feedback can get you a sneak peek at what a reader for a festival or competition might be thinking of your script in its present state. I make notes covering everything from pacing, to characters, to grammar and spelling, and everything in between.

“My [26F] husband [43M] has suddenly started [doing blatantly abusive thing]. Am I in the wrong?”

“My [37F] husband [39M] and I have been together for 8 loving years. But three months ago, he learned about Chris Angel, and he’s now decided he wants to spend his life performing motorcycle stunts in front of penguins. I don’t want to crush his dreams but he’s used up all of our life savings. Advice?”

we decided we want to focus on LGBTQ+ youth and pregnant teens/teen moms, as they are very often hard to place.

We have one more info meeting, and then we'll be deciding where to submit our application (to an agency or to DFCS).

We had one meeting with an agency where we heard the BIGGEST red flag EVER. They referred to foster kids as their "consumers." 🤢

We gotta get all 3 cats up to date on their rabies vaccinations. Doggos are all set, but I need to get them some checkups and vax records.

We're going to start with the bedroom soon. Ideas appreciated! What should we buy ahead of time, what should we wait on? We're anticipating being approved before March of next year (possibly as early as January or even December).

we decided we want to focus on LGBTQ+ youth and pregnant teens/teen moms, as they are very often hard to place.

We have one more info meeting, and then we'll be deciding where to submit our application (to an agency or to DFCS).

We had one meeting with an agency where we heard the BIGGEST red flag EVER. They referred to foster kids as their "consumers." 🤢

We gotta get all 3 cats up to date on their rabies vaccinations. Doggos are all set, but I need to get them some checkups and vax records.

We're going to start with the bedroom soon. Ideas appreciated! What should we buy ahead of time, what should we wait on? We're anticipating being approved before March of next year (possibly as early as January or even December).

we decided we want to focus on LGBTQ+ youth and pregnant teens/teen moms, as they are very often hard to place.

We have one more info meeting, and then we'll be deciding where to submit our application (to an agency or to DFCS).

We had one meeting with an agency where we heard the BIGGEST red flag EVER. They referred to foster kids as their "consumers." 🤢

We gotta get all 3 cats up to date on their rabies vaccinations. Doggos are all set, but I need to get them some checkups and vax records.

We're going to start with the bedroom soon. Ideas appreciated! What should we buy ahead of time, what should we wait on? We're anticipating being approved before March of next year (possibly as early as January or even December).

are you ready for this? 

it is the most wonderfully made, historically inaccurate, giddily fun, perfectly paced, goofy horror movie romance novel bullshit bonanza that has ever blessed the silver screen.

i mean it is just so beautifully full of every genre without being overwhelming.we’ve got: comedy, action, suspense, horror, romance, adventure, ancient aesthetics, and it’s a period piece. all perfectly balanced and blended into one movie.

and the characters are so LIT

we got our main babe, evelyn “motherfucking” carnahan, a super-klutz librarian, total history nerd, and certified badass/damsel in distress. she raises the dead on accident, because she cannot resist books, and has the guts to put that motherfucker back where he came from and literally saves the world.evie’s greatest hits: 

“what is a place like me, doing in a girl like this?!”

*after totally destroying the library* “i’ve just made a bit of a mess in the library.”

“no harm ever came from reading a book.”

evelyn: *upon opening the tomb* “i’ve dreamt about this since i was a little girl.”rick: “you dream about dead guys?”

“oops.”

then we’ve got rick “brendan fraser” o’connell, your not-so-typical battle hardened gun slinger with a heart of gold. he seems filthy, rude, and a complete scoundrel at first, but then he turns into a literal puppy, with massive heart eyes, that worships the ground evie walks on.rick’s greatest hits:

*screams at mummy*

*screams at sand*

*screams at things that are illogical to scream at*

*screams*

next is our Comedic Relief Character™, jonathan carnahan, who also rises above his trope. he’s there for the laugh sure, but is never useless. he actively helps to move the plot along and isn’t just there. he also is the farthest thing from brainless and annoying.jonathan’s greatest hits:

evelyn: “have you no respect for the dead?”jonathan: “of course i do, but sometimes i’d rather like to join them.” same.

oh and that time he was like “IMHOTEP” and saved his own ass like that was so smooth, y’all know what i’m talking about right??

then there is ardeth BAE. he is the audience rolling his eyes because *sighs* white people. he’s tired of these motherfucking mummies in this motherfucking desert. literally prettier than everyone.(he has a much bigger role in the mummy returns, but is still so fab here)

and of course THE MUMMY. imhotep. actual emo. literally carved some poetry into the back of his sarcophagus when he was buried alive with flesh eating bugs, because he is that Extra™. just wants to bring his girlfriend back to life so he can make out with her without it being treason. 

and all the side characters are also gr8.

now i wanna take a moment to talk about the romance. because it is so BEAUTIFUL. like usually in action movies it’s macho man undermines girl and they bone. not here. no time for that shit. 

rick and evie have such a great relationship based on mutual respect and affection. they both cater to each other’s strengths and cover each other’s weaknesses. they are the literally definition of: “those two. in a fight, they’re lethal. around each other, they melt”

what else, i could literally talk about this movie all day.

the special effects have held up pretty well.the music score is GORGEOUS.the costumes are amazing.the makeup, especially for anck su namun, OH WOW.the george of the jungle era brendan fraser sign me the fuck up.rachel weisz.

so many good things.

it’s just great.

#i secretly rate every action movie from 0 to the mummy

it’s a beautiful mess of a movie that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and transcends time and posterity as the alpha mummy movie, and to those who disagree i beseech you:

I’m not sure how many of my mutuals are familiar with the Bollywood classics of the seventies… but they too tended to blend action, romance, comedy (and a good deal of singing and dancing numbers) all into the same movie.