Evolution of the Title
_
The working title
was originally Push but I decided to change it. That title had already been
used a few times in film, literature and T.V so eventually I arrived at Block.
The reasons for this choice were four-fold;
All 4 aspects interact in life and fiction to make stories worth reading.
But it’s not all doom and gloom as they say. I don’t serve it up too heavy. There’s giggles to be had. After all sometimes things are so ridiculously messed up that laughter is the only option. What more excuse do you need to READ THE BOOK.
- Block denotes drug use (in this particular case a block of crack cocaine).
- Nothing speaks of council accommodation more than the words tower block. It is what typifies social housing but in this context a block for me incorporates the entire spectrum, from sprawling monstrosities, which completely dominate the landscape, to shorter more discreet constructions and council houses.
- Block also denotes the various kinds of obstruction (physical, psychological, social, institutional etc.) which contribute towards individual social impairment; sections of society stuck in drug addiction, worklessness, criminality and ultimately social exclusion. There are, of course, the remaining people outside these networks who remain trapped within this social architecture and it is this group of people who I choose to give voice to in this novel.
- The title Block is also a nod towards the science element.
All 4 aspects interact in life and fiction to make stories worth reading.
But it’s not all doom and gloom as they say. I don’t serve it up too heavy. There’s giggles to be had. After all sometimes things are so ridiculously messed up that laughter is the only option. What more excuse do you need to READ THE BOOK.