kristaphillips No no, I’m not really saying that I have no friends… although I always welcome followers (I’m due for another welcome post next week!) Facebook friends, Twitter followers and the like.
But seriously, I was driving the other day and passed a Mercedes, probably late 90’s grey model, with “I HAVE NO FRIENDS” painted in big white letters on the back of their windshield, kinda like they do to say (GO TEAM–#1 rules!) before a big high school game or something.
As I sat in the busy traffic, my mind starting to turn. What would possess someone to write that on the back of their car? I mean, what circumstances brought it about? The writer in me had a billion different possibilities run through my head… but everything seemed too predictable. But then I got to really thinking…
So here’s my challenge to you: Write either a.) a paragraph from an imaginary novel showing us how this sentence came to be on this dudes Mercedes or b.) A short elevator pitch (aka a few sentences giving the plot of the book) that centers around this sentence being on the dude’s Mercedes.
What’s the purpose of this? It’s to remind ourselves that stupid, little things that we see in our every day life, if we use our imagination, ask the “why” questions… that’s where truly great (okay and sometimes just really silly) book ideas come from!
Let’s have fun and use our imagination! Think of it as a creative exercise. I’ll chime in tonight with one of my own… so stay tuned:-)
**For you non-writers… come on! You can try it too! It’ll be fun, I promise!**
This is a cute idea! I can't do it right now because my eyes are watering and I'm desperately sucking down coffee to feel more alive.
But it's still sad. First thing I thought of was that he's a lottery winner and has no friends because he can't trust anyone anymore.
Immediately my mind thought of a nasty group of girls writing that on the back of some misfit girl's car and reading the rest of your post made me sad. I got too "into" my own idea, I guess. 😀
~ Wendy
Well shoot, I wasn't going for tears here!! But we women are the emotional sort here.
I'll just throw it out there. If it was someone being "mean" to this person… don't you think they'd have washed it off before the left the house?
or… if they did… "why" wouldn't they have washed it off?
Ohhhh, now we're talking motives people!
Now that I have sucked down my morning coffee…
A vile man, pricked with despair at the lose of another feeble attempt to remain sober.
Paraded around as a joke my fellow bar hoopers, he snags the sign off the bar wall. He laughs at the notion of having a daily reminder of his pitiful state.
"Sid, mind if I have this sign?"
"No, as a matter of fact I made it just for you." Sid chuckles.
The inebriated man shuffles from the bar with the sign tucked under his arm.
This is very creative!
I've seen your comments on Rachelle's blog, Krista. I'm glad I stopped by. Come visit at my blog too! I'm doing a follower "exchange" right now.
I think this guy in the car got angry at the lack of compassion for the lonely and decided to test everyone around to see who would show friendship to someone without friends. I think he's actually a very wealthy, well-known person going incognito.
I'm thinking they want attention. That tag gives them just what they want. Pity?
Nice to meet you.
Oh, dear, I'm at 99 minutes on my treadmill and just can't think of anything other than that the man is crying out for friends!!! How sad, and how not to get them.
"I may not have friends, but I've got a cool car."
Maybe it's a statement that status is more important? Or maybe it's a desperate attempt to have someone feel sorry for them?
Either way, it's creepy!!
What if the driver is going through some kind of initiation/hazing and has to leave the phrase on his/her car for a few days?
Or maybe he/she is proud of the fact that they have no friends (though secretly mourning their solitude) and has decided to flaunt it.
maybe the driver thinks friends are overrated and they'd rather have their car as a friend. i wouldn't expect that slogan on a mercedes for some reason. that stuck out to me. maybe on a pinto or something. 🙂
jeannie
Where Romance Meets Therapy
Maybe it's Opposite Day, as my kids often like to say. 🙂
Ideas are swirling in my mind, so here are a few of them… social experiment, a way to make people feel sorry for him and lure them into his evil world, or he's been screwed one too many times by "friends" who use & abuse his kindness and he says "enough is enough!"
All such good ideas! You all rock at brainstorming!
I, btw, decided that Friday's post will be *my* interpretation of "I have no friends" kay? So keep your ideas coming (because that will stretch me more… my challenge to myself is to come up with something different than any of you have mentioned!) and then come back Friday to read my paragraph… (or 2, LOL)
The car was a gift from his friends cause the writing on the back window originally said, "I have nice friends!" But a jealous coworker secretly erased the i and the e in nice and made the c into an o. So as the dude got into his car after work, he didn't even notice the difference!
Scott… GOOD ONE! I'm impressed:-)
Hey Krista!
Finally catching up on my blog buddies' sites. Looks like I missed out on this one, but was anxiously awaiting your ideas as to why this guy had the sad saying scrawled on his back window…Eagerly awaiting your next post!