Finncon 2014
My first Finncon finished last night – such a great convention. Just before the con, the newspaper Keskisumalainen did an interview with me, which was nice.
The organisers of the con were wonderfully generous, the guests – Elizabeth Bear, Hannu Rajaniemi (author of the terrific far-future science fiction novel Quantum Thief,), Cheryl Morgan, Scott Lynch – were great fun and terrible nice, the panels I attended interesting and fun. Hannu’s GOH speech was great, and he read a cool little story about a haunted space-suit which I’m sure will see print soon.
I was blessed to have the Hannu in several of my sessions. He also was good enough to come to my little reading and ask me some questions about Unwrapped Sky. Our conversations reached their zenith during my Kaffeeklatch, which he dropped in on, and during which we talked about writing technique. Both of us, it turns out, are interested in abstract models of story – technical questions – though we both recognise their limitations, I think. This conversation nicely dovetailed with a latter discussion I had with Elizabeth Bear about Robert McKee’s Story, and I think we share similar critiques about that book. It reminded me of an old article I wrote about McKee – after having interviewed him some years ago – still available here. In that piece, I wrote:
If McKee’s book is a good place to begin, his theory of storytelling is also extremely conventional. It centres around a protagonist with a need, who struggles to overcome obstacles to achieve that need. Structurally, McKee outlines the three-act story, so common in film. Though he registers other modes of storytelling – experimental ‘anti-plot’, four and five act stories – it is very hard not to see his ‘principles’ as dictums for very conventional, populist stories. Indeed, many Hollywood films comply with McKee’s ideas of storytelling without rising above the level of appalling.
In other words, his principles are not enough.
Bear has herself written about structure in an online piece I recommend.
By the end of the convention, I was typically tired, but reinvigorated, as any good con usually leaves me. Filled with ideas, thoughts, energy.
