Category: Book

BOOK IDEA

6/28/2014

How to tell a story

I've been researching story structure and I think it would be fun to create a story structure book for kids.

It would focus on the three-act structure and go into the basics about each act, plot points, and how to create a satisfying story arc.

A fun feature would be to take popular children's stories and movies(fairy tale, superhero, animated adventure, etc.) and show how they fit into the structure by creating color bands that weave through each page of the book. Each band would contain a complete story when read from front to back and each part of the story would be on each page where the story structure section is being introduced.

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BOOK IDEA

6/26/2014

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Babel Fish: The universal translator for programmers

I have written a lot of code in a lot of different programming languages (basic, lingo, vbscript, html, css, perl, php, sql, javascript, java, actionscript) for different projects, but if I had to write a piece of code today in any of those languages or a new one, I would have to google the syntax or reach for one of my books.

The thing about programming languages is that there hasn't been a new idea in 15 years. The building blocks of programming, things like variables, arrays, conditional statements, functions... all programming languages have them, C, C#, java, php, etc. Once you learn your second and third language, you know that you can program in any language... as long as you learn the syntax of the language.

Unlike other programming books that teach you a programming language in a vacuum, Bable Fish devotes a chapter to each of the concepts of programming, and lists how you would write it in a dozen different languages. You see how to create an array in one language that you already know right next to the way you would write it in the language you are learning. It's using the French/English dictionary model for programming languages.

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BOOK SERIES IDEA

6/24/2014

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Learning a language through fiction

The idea is to write a fictional story about a character in a foreign land who teaches himself to speak the language, and in the process the reader learns the language organically. It's immersion by proxy.

The story is of a 14 year old boy who wakes up on a train at a small town in the Spanish countryside.

He finds a note from his troubled mother saying that she cannot take the stress of her life and she is leaving.

The note instructs him to go to the authorities and have them contact his grandparents in the US who will arrange his way home.

He decides not to follow the instructions and to instead search for his mother.

He has little money, does not speak the language, and has no idea where he is.

The story is told from his point of view, and through the course of the book, (out of sheer necessity) he teaches himself the language organically.

We, the reader, are also learning the language with him.

The story will have many twists and perils to keep the reader engaged and invested in the boy’s process of learning a new language and the fate of his mother.

If successful, the book could be 'localized' in many different languages.

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BOOK IDEA

6/16/2014

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Learn 300 Spanish Words in 3 Minutes

A Spanish vocabulary word book that is organized in a new way. A 1000 word vocabulary is all you need to be functional in a language. the first chapter (and the gimmick) is a list of all the words in Spanish that are spelled the exact same way in English (mosquito, idea, general, etc) with their Spanish pronunciation and a sample sentence. The second chapter contains all the words that only change a letter or two in their Spanish equivalent (momento/moment, problema/problem, posible/possible, etc), their pronunciation, and a sample sentence. The following chapters are more traditional word groupings and mnemonic devices to learn the remaining words. The key idea is to make the idea of learning vocabulary less daunting… i.e. “See how much you already know!”

Stickymmersion Chapter- The best way to learn a language is through immersion. This chapter groups nouns together by location in a house or office (kitchen, bedroom, supply closet, etc) and ask the reader to copy each one on a sticky note and stick it to the thing(door, night table, paperclips, etc). This works on several levels, the act of writing down words helps commit them to memory, posting them in conspicuous places ensures that you will interact with them regularly, and externalizing your learning helps bring others like family and friends into the process to encourage and assist you.

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BOOK IDEA

How to tell a story

BOOK IDEA

Babel Fish: The universal translator for programmers

BOOK SERIES IDEA

Learning a language through fiction

BOOK IDEA

Learn 300 Spanish Words in 3 Minutes

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