From Post Secret, Sunday, February 7, 2010
This is a sweet idea. I sometimes do or want to do random nice things, like putting a quarter in an about-to-expire parking meter--nothing too life altering, but just a nice thing that brightens someone else's day and makes me also feel good about myself. (Let's be honest, being kind is in part about feeling good about oneself.) Anyhow, onto the idea section of this little jaunt. Seeing this particular card gave me the kernal of an idea. An idea about misunderstandings.
The idea.
What if you have a nice, friendly, innocuous neighbor who sees a young gal over time, over random glimpses as she comes and goes. This accidental watcher decides that the person, with whom he's rarely interacted except to exchange anonymous hellos or waves, is depressed or needs cheering up. Perhaps he has seen her break up with her lover. Perhaps he notices that she has had some other troubles. But he decides to start cheering her up and to that end begins to do small things to make her life better.
So say our one man cheering squad just sends her random postcards that say, for example, "You are loved." Or, "Someone thinks your kind heart brightens the world." Whatever. A note like that can be incredibly innocuous if received from someone with a face, someone known; but the recipient might not take anonymous notes well if the phrasing is unfortunately such that it sounds like something stalkerish or related to some other issue is going on...such as, say, a crazy ex-boyfriend whom our recipient of cheer happened to murder to get away from. If, for example, your kind neighbor drives her over the edge of sanity with his attempt to make her feel better, it would be an interesting set up for a horror story, especially one told from the perspective of a well-intentioned person who is too lacking in sense to see what he is doing to the poor woman/victim. And even more interesting to write the story so that the old guy doesn't realize that he is the cause of her eventual breakdown.
Even better, what if the 'helpful' neighbor is revealed at the end to be doing all this deliberately? Nasty.
Now, if I could only think of a speculative element to toss in there, it might be something I'd tackle. Maybe there's a fairy tale that it can be cross-pollinated with. [Okay, spec element potential: a psychic vampire that feeds on fear is one possibility; but it's a bit overdone and I want to find something obscure.]
If anyone wants to use this sort of set up, I'd love to beta read. Moi, I have enough on my plate. (You know I just bring up these ideas so I don't go off and start one more project I have to abandon so I can work on the ones that are closer to my heart, right? So I don't care if someone takes an idea and runs with it? Really. Glad to be of service. Besides, it isn't the ideas, it's the execution that makes the writing.)
uh... maybe ok for you, d, not my cuppa
Posted by: laughingwolf | February 11, 2010 at 08:04 AM