On 2 December, South Moravian author Marie Lunga will launch her debut novel “Beyond the Curtain” at Martinus Bookshop in Brno, a month ahead of its general release. Written in English, the novel depicts an alternate Europe of magic and wizards, which serves as an allegory for some of the critical dynamics in our shared European history.
Marie is South Moravian born and raised, and moved to Brno for university. She now works at the Brno Expat Centre, as one of the key organisers behind the Brno Expat Fair. That’s her afternoon job. In the mornings, she writes. Brno Daily sat down with Marie to find out more about the novel and her life as a writer.
BD: You have a law degree, and now you work as a communication manager. Where does writing come into all of this?
ML: I’ve been writing since I was twelve. Novel-length stuff too, right from the start, although it was all fanfiction. I never considered writing to be a valid career choice, though. Then at thirty, I suddenly thought: “Hey, let’s give it a try.” I dropped to working part-time and three long years later, the book’s finally finished.
BD: Why did you decide to write the book in English?
ML: I’ve been reading in English since I was fifteen. I got too impatient to wait for Czech translations of my favourite series, so I had to learn. When writing, language is your toolbox. The expressions to describe body language, the tools to raise tension, to draw a precise image. You learn those by reading books. After so many years of reading in English, my toolbox is made of English tools.
BD: Could you tell us what the book is about?
ML: Beyond the Curtain is your proper fantasy adventure. It doesn’t take you to some imaginary lands, but on a journey across Europe. A slightly changed Europe, though. In the book, the continent is a land of magic. Some time ago, wizards announced to the world that they exist. They cloaked Europe under a curtain, and inside, they rule. The book is about the dissenters, the wizards who didn’t share such ambitions, who fought the idea that wizards should rule the world.
BD: Apart from the wizards, this all sounds quite familiar.
ML: It should! The plot is a clear rip-off of the Iron Curtain and the previous fifty years of European history. Apart from the wizards, of course. But that’s why I love writing fantasy – the genre allows you to take a very real-world conflict, or the very real-world human nature, and illustrate it with starker, fantastical colours. The result can be a story that people want to open even at the end of a long, tiring day, that yanks them inside its world and entertains, even whilst pondering some heavy topics.
BD: What were the biggest challenges in a project like this?
ML: Right now, the most nerve-wracking question is whether the book will find its way to its readers. But if you asked me a few months ago, when still writing, I would have said that it’s keeping two different goals aligned: first, your final destination where you want to take the story and what impressions you want it to leave with your readers. And secondly, equally importantly, you need to make the book engaging from page to page. Hefty goals are great, but the story needs to be entertaining throughout. I love this challenge.
BD: Do you have any tips for those who want to write?
ML: Put writing into your daily routine and write consistently. Early mornings are my thing, before the rest of the world wakes up. Another thing that surprised me with how well it worked: share your ideas with your friends, right from the start. Before, I always kept my plans hidden, as if they were this fragile thing that would crumble under people’s opinions if I released them into the world. This time, I shared my plans with my friends and it helped a lot. Not just because you’re then accountable to make progress by the time you talk next, but because they remembered my excitement. I might have hit some roadblocks by the time we talked next, but my friends picked up the conversation where we left it and reminded me I was actually excited about this. Let your friends recharge your motivation!
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Marie’s book launches on 2 December in Martinus Bookshop. Any other time, you can order it here.
