despair

“We would set our own hearts on fire for a mere moment of warmth”

This is a script/storyboard (plus some other bits) for a cartoon that I pitched unsuccessfully to the BFi for their Animation 2018 project (the winners of which are being shown on BBC Four this Sunday, and which should be brilliant).

If it had actually been made, it would have had sets built by Dan Rawlings and sound design by Chriddof, with slightly inept claymation (with wooden heads) animation by me (which was presumably the reason it wasn’t commissioned).

Also the other reason it probably wasn’t commissioned is because it is absolutely the most depressing thing I’ve ever written.

[Some of the models for this were later re-used in They Locked Me In This Room And Told Me To Confess, which was another unsuccessful submission for a thing (the Observer Short Comic Competition thing they run each year). Maybe these poor plasticine abominations are cursed in some way.]

[If you can’t read the words you can click on the image to enlarge it. If you still can’t read the writing, it is because it is illegible to all but me. I am sorry.]

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Notes:

1. Written in February and March, 2018

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An earlier world

There was a time
there is always a time
when you were happy

And you see it clearer
brighter
louder
with every passing day
that drifts
clean
away

It takes on the form
the mythic scope
of a utopia

And you would give anything
to get back there
to get back
to a life
that life
that vibrant fucking life

But you can’t go back there
because it never existed
and when you were there
it was another
earlier
world
that you wanted

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Notes:

1. Written on September 27th, 2018
2. This is the original version of this
3. Which I’ve decided I like better now
4. A week or so later

__________

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If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi.

Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!

An earlier world

There was a time – there is always a time – when you were happy. You can see it now. And you see it clearer with every passing day, this moment, this time, this place, while everything around you now that drifts away. It takes on the form, the mythic scope, of a utopia.

You would give anything to get back there, to get back to a life, that life, that vibrant fucking life you had.

But you can’t go back there

because it never existed.

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Notes:

1. Written on September 27th, 2018

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi.

Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!

Cobweb

In the corner of my room, there’s this cobweb that’s been there for years. I’ve never seen a spider there, but the web seems to grow thicker and stronger over time.

Occasionally I’ll see a fly caught by it, unable to escape. Is it worse to die pointlessly like this, in a dead, abandoned trap? Or is it just as terrible the other way too, just as pointless and upsetting and unjust to die in an active web?

Should I die alone, or somewhere the worms can find me

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Notes:

1. Written September 5th, 2018

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi.

Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!

The Interview

“Thank you for coming in to see us today.”

“No, it’s my pleasure. Thank you for taking the time to interview me.”

“Of course, of course. Have a seat, Mr… Guy, is it?”

“Yes, thank you. And just call me David.”

“Well, okay then, David. So, you’d like this job, then?”

“Yes, it’s-”

“Well you can’t have it. Goodbye.”

“But-”

“Goodbye.”

INTERVIEW ENDS

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Notes:

1. Written on December 11th, 2016
2. A recollection of events occurring repeatedly between 2005 and 2018 and presumably beyond

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi.

Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!