How to write a polemic on social change
Distil your thesis down to one word. It should either be an adjective which you wish to imbue with new deeper meaning like “Free”, or a neologism (maybe even a portmanteau) like “crowdsourcing”. Open your book with an account of an ordinary person who dared to think differently. They represent the
- Distil your thesis down to one word. It should either be an adjective which you wish to imbue with new deeper meaning like “Free”, or a neologism (maybe even a portmanteau) like “crowdsourcing”.
- Open your book with an account of an ordinary person who dared to think differently. They represent the epitome of your thesis.
- Tell the reader why Brand X is failing to understand Thing Y and why they are doomed, then why Person A is doing Thing Y and that is good.
- Repeat step three at least six times.
- One case study should seem to be really out there and edgy, but fundamentally come down to how amazing Thing Y is.
- The word which sums up your thesis should appear at the end of each paragraph of the book e.g. “And that is because Person A understands the power of Thing Y.”
- When referring back to “Thing Y” the emphasis of your sentence should be on Thing Y. Basically you need to use meter, alliteration, punctuation – any grammar or syntax that stresses Thing Y. This is underlining for clever people.
- Try to get an endorsement for the book’s dust jacket from Clay Shirky or Chris Anderson. Citing them in your book a lot might help to achieve this.
- At some point mention the Ancient Greeks. They totally got Thing Y, so why did we forget about?
- When your polemic comes out in paperback, write “a new afterword by the author” which crowbars a current global event into your thesis, e.g. “In February 2011 Egypt was gripped by massive civil unrest. It’s just the latest example of a world where Thing Y matters.”