Welcome to The Creative Council, where I interview creatives about their lives and work and the ups and downs of being a creative soul.
Today’s interview is Lucya Starza!
Lucya is a pagan writer and eclectic witch with a background in Gardnerian Wicca as well as family traditions of folk magic. She is the author of titles in Moon Books’ Pagan Portals series: Candle Magic, Guided Visualisations, Poppets and Magical Dolls, Scrying and Rounding the Wheel of the Year. Her first novel, Erosion, was published by Moon Books in spring 2024.
As Lucya Szachnowski, she contributed to Rivers of London – The Roleplaying Game and co-wrote Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game supplements and scenarios published by Chaosium, including The London Guidebook, Day of the Beast, Strange Aeons and Before the Fall. You can find her daily postings on A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk.
The Interview
Hallo, Lucya! Welcome to The Creative Council! Shall we dive in?
· When did you start creating? Do you remember what pulled you in?
I’d say I started creating when I was very young. I’ve always loved making things: painting, writing, crafting, sewing or whatever. In my teens, I’d craft things for friends and family for birthday and Christmas presents. One year it was home-made candles, another it was patchwork cushions, and so on. I also wrote short stories and poetry and won some prizes for them when I was at school.
· When did you start pursuing your current craft for real? As in, when did you begin to take yourself seriously as a creator?
I guess that was when I was deciding what to do after my A-levels. My initial idea was to study fashion design, because, when I was in my late teens, I got into designing and making my own clothes. The school and my parents persuaded me to go to university to do a more academic course. I chose to do a BA in Drama and Comparative Literary Studies, so still creative in some way as well as getting a degree at the end of it.
After leaving university – back in the 1980s, so a long while ago – I wanted to write for a living. I wanted to take a bit of time out and write a novel, but again my parents steered me towards something they saw as better for my career, so I began working in publishing. I first worked in admin roles, then as a feature writer and sub-editor on various magazines and newspapers for decades, but I wanted to be more creative.
I first got that dream when I wrote supplements and scenarios for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game, published by Chaosium. That was in the 1990s. I remember how excited I was when my proposal was accepted and how much I enjoyed working on that first professional creative project.
· How long did it take you to complete your first work?
It was so long ago I can’t really remember. I think probably a few months. I had to do all my research and writing in the evenings and weekends because I was still working full-time on a magazine during the day.
· How long does it generally take you to complete a work?
Nowadays, it usually takes me about six months to write a 30,000-word non-fiction book from start to finish. I’ve written several books on witchcraft and practical magic in Moon Books’ Pagan Portals series, including Candle Magic, Poppets and Magical Dolls, Scrying, Guided Visualisations and Rounding the Wheel of the Year.
My first novel, Erosion, has just been published by Moon Books. It took me six months to write the first draft, but then it took about a year to edit it to a state ready for publication.
· Of all the milestones you’ve reached thus far, what has been your favourite?
Writing Erosion has to be my favourite achievement because it was something I’d wanted to do for such a long time. The reason I put it off was because I know few novelists earn much money. I could make a reasonable living doing less creative publishing roles, so I stuck to what I knew I could do to pay the bills.
Then came the pandemic and I decided to use the long lockdown to write the novel. I’m so glad I did. Erosion was published in April this year, which is, of course, a huge milestone, but I think finishing the first draft felt more momentous.
· When was the last time you celebrated a creative milestone?
Well, I celebrated the launch of Erosion very recently, as I’ve mentioned. Moon Books lets authors know when one of their books has sold another 500 copies. A few weeks ago, I Iearnt that Pagan Portals – Poppets and Magical Dolls had reached another big sales milestone, having sold more than 4,000 paperbacks and ebooks. I always like celebrating those little regular milestones too.
· I love that. It’s so easy to forget the little things! So what do you struggle with most as a creative person?
Finding time to be creative – and procrastinating! These days I seem to spend so much time promoting my books that I have very little spare time to write new ones. Once I could just write a book and a daily blog post and not have to spend so many hours designing adverts, recording videos, sharing photos and general social media marketing.
I’ve heard other authors complain that the balance between writing their books and marketing their books is tough to get right.
· It is tough! Have you always had that struggle or has it changed over time?
I’m old enough to remember the world before the internet! At one time, marketing was sending off press releases to magazines and newspapers and hoping they’d ask for a review copy.
· What advice would you give to creatives dealing with the same?
My advice on writing is to get into a regular habit. Even if you only write a paragraph a day, eventually you will have a finished manuscript. I don’t have any useful advice about social media marketing sadly. I’m sure younger creatives could give me much more advice than I could offer them.
· What do you do to stay inspired?
If I’m stuck for what to write, I generallly get up and stop staring at a blank page on a screen. I sometimes go for a walk. Other times I get on with routine housework like the washing up or the ironing. I find doing something physical that doesn’t need much concentration helps my mind get into a state where ideas come more freely.
· This is why I get my best ideas while driving or in the shower. And what’s the best creative advice you ever received?
‘Write what you know.’
Seriously, even if you are writing fiction, use what you know as a basis for what you describe. That was one of the reasons I chose a Kent seaside town in the 1980s as the setting for Erosion. I lived in a Kent seaside town back then and could use my memories of the time and place. There’s also a lot of magical realism in the book – for that I drew on my experience as a writer of books on practical magic. Of course it’s possible to research places you’ve never been or things you’ve never done, but it’s easier to write about things you know.
You can find Lucya on her blog and on Moon Books. You can learn more about Chaosium here.
Lucya’s novel Erosion was published by Moon Books in April 2024.
Are you a creative and would you like to be interviewed next? E-mail me at marielle@mswordsmith.nl and we’ll make it happen!