Award-winning Scottish science fiction author Ken MacLeod joins the Plutopia News Network to discuss his work’s political themes: failed modern systems, rising nationalism, and the struggle to find common interest in a fragmented world. He also reflects candidly on the craft of writing as he nears completion of his 21st novel, which he says still hinges on the hardest part: plotting and bringing a story to a satisfying, coherent conclusion. In conversation with hosts Jon, Scoop, and Wendy, Ken explains how he distinguishes science fiction from fantasy (material processes versus mental ones), describes his note-driven worldbuilding process, and weighs the real prospects for human space colonization, skepticism about today’s power-hungry “AI,” and the enduring pull of socialist ideas.
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By far and away, the hardest thing for me to do is plot. You know, getting a general idea of the story, getting a world, an imaginary world, getting ideas. That’s easy, that’s the first stage. The thing I sweat and swear and stumble over repeatedly is plot. And most of the mental writing goes into that. At the moment I’m writing my, I guess, my 20th novel and it hasn’t got any easier. I’ve got a couple of chapters, maybe two or three chapters left to write. I’ve just re-read everything I wrote so far on the novel. It’s not quite as bad as I thought, you know. You get very critical of your work if you’ve read it several times over.
Editor’s note: We realized after the interview that Ken has written 20 novels, and the one in process is his 21st!
