Skip to main content

My idea for a book

Maybe it's the job of a grombler to see the negative side of everything, or at least to moan about it until you start to believe there really is a negative side. I'm starting to get fixated about the Facebook genie we've released from the bottle. See previous blog. My worry is that there are so many potential social networking dangers the planet is drifting towards, that they're all getting lost under the weight of everyone only seeing fun. So I asked myself what are the ways available to me at least to raise awareness of the potential issues and encourage some debate (where none appears to exists at present)? Well my last blog has been viewed 3 times with no comments. So that's not going to get the planet talking. The key to grabbing the attention of the masses is by making a film about it. Films not only rewrite history, they create awareness in dramatic ways about issues, and in ways that people can readily understand - albeit from a very one-sided viewpoint.... the one that will sell films.

So how do I get a film made about the dangers of Facebook? The short answer is that I can't. But what I can do is to write a book from which a film might be made. Oh boy. How incredibly naive and arrogant. I can't even achieve more than 3 views for my blog. How on earth, assuming I have the skill and patience to write it, do I get a book published? Well I suppose I will never find out if I don't try.

So what's the book going to be about? Naturally I don't want to give the plot away in this blog (even though I'm only doodling to myself here), but the basic idea I'm toying with is to work half a dozen positive stories of ordinary people's lives, through to their individual realisation that something is wrong, their coincidental collaboration (which you do by starting from a point in their collaboration and working backwards), and finally their plot to do something outrageous which essentially ends the networked world as we know it. Pity I couldn't come up with a more challenging idea. Hmm.

How do you write a book? Well I've got plenty of time on my hands. So reduction of boredom is a massive incentive. I am also reasonably literate (judge for yourself). I have never done it before, but I can probably work out a schematic for the storyline. I heard JK Rowling once describe how she planned a Potter book by covering an A1 sheet of paper with a hand-written mindmap. So that's what I'm going to do.

The one thing that scares me is not the enormous effort I'll be letting myself in for, its the possibility that after all of it I discover I can't write books. Yet another depressing gromble awaits. I also need to do this entirely on my own. All my previous occupations have been communal. But I am a hopeless completer/finisher and have historically always left those boring bits to others better suited to them. My book has to be accomplished from beginning to end, by me alone.

Wish me luck, or just continue ignoring my blogs - why don't you.

By the way. Clearly this is my copyright (dated 15/1/2011) - however, you are welcome to use this idea if you assign 20% of your royalties and any other revenues to Amnesty International.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Phillips screws - yes I'm angry about them too

Don't get me wrong. They're a brilliant invention to assist automation and prevent screwdrivers from slipping off screw heads - damaging furniture, paintwork and fingers in the process. Interestingly they weren't invented by Mr Phillips at all, but by a John P Thompson who sold Mr P the idea after failing to commercialise it. Mr P, on the otherhand, quickly succeeded where Mr T had failed. Incredible isn't it. You don't just need a good idea, you need a great salesman and, more importantly, perfect timing to make a success out of something new. Actually, it would seem, he did two clever things (apart from buying the rights). He gave the invention to GM to trial. No-brainer #1. After it was adopted by the great GM, instead of trying to become their sole supplier of Phillips screws, he sold licenses to every other screw manufacturer in the world. A little of a lot is worth a great deal more than a lot of a little + vulnerability (watch out Apple!). My gromble is abo

Introducing Product Relationship Management - it's what customers want.

Most businesses these days have Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems which store and process vasts amounts of information about us. They use this information to generate communications, amongst other things, which target us to buy their products and services. CRM is all about how a business relates to its customers: Past (keeping them loyal through aftersales and service), Present (helping them buy through bricks and clicks channels) and Future (prospecting). Most businesses will at some stage have declared themselves 'customer-centric'. They will probably have drawn diagrams on whiteboards that look something like these: But there's a problem with this whole approach of keeping the customer at the centre of your world and the focal point for everything you do. Is it what the customer wants ? Of course companies who ignore their customers eventually go out of business. And those who treat their customers well, tend to thrive. But is it really in the best inte

The Secrets of Hacker Golf

Social media is awash with professional golfers selling video training courses to help you perfect your swing, gain 50 yards on your drive and cut your handicap. They might help a few desperate souls, but the rest of us hackers already know everything we need to complete a round of golf without worrying the handicap committee or appearing on a competition winner's list. What those pros don't realise is that for us hacking golfers who very occasionally hit shots that if you hadn't seen how they were hit, end up where the pros might have put them, we already know everything we need to know - and more. Unlike pros who know how to time the perfect swing in order to caress a ball 350 yards down the centre of a fairway, we hackers need to assemble a far wider set of skills and know-how to complete 18 holes, about which pros have no comprehension, need, or desire to learn. Here are some of them: Never select your shot until after you've hit it. A variation on this is to alway