ABOUT LUCY
Lucy J. Madison is a novelist, screenwriter, and poet who strives to tell unique stories about women, for women.
She writes contemporary lesbian romance novels, poetry, articles, and short stories. Her books include Personal Foul, In the Direction of the Sun, and A Recipe for Love (Labrador Publishing). The Lesbian Review named Personal Foul as one of the top 10 Lesbian Sports Romances. In the Direction of the Sun was named an Award Finalist in the Fiction: LGBTQ category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.
Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, such as The One: Stories of Falling in Love Forever (Sapphire Books 2016), A Heart Well Traveled Volume 1 (Sapphire Books 2017), and Tales of Travelrotica for Lesbians (Alyson Books 2006).
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She’s authored many bylined articles. Curve Magazine selected her interview with W.N.B.A. legend Sue Bird as the September 2017 cover story. Other bylines include The San Francisco Bay Times, Got Game Magazine, Thysia Literary Magazine, Prism Book Alliance Blog, Confluence, The Tipton Poetry Journal, Beginnings Literary Magazine, The Survivor’s Review, and The Last Stanza Poetry Journal, among many others.
She resides in shoreline Connecticut and Provincetown. She enjoys hiking, landscape photography, and cooking. She is a member of the WGA East Indie Film Caucus, and is vice president of the Provincetown Theater Board of Directors.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did you start writing and did you always want to be a writer?
I've been keeping a journal since I was a little girl and always wanted to be a writer or a professional basketball player. I had the opportunity to play professional basketball in Israel when I graduated from college but I turned it down. After spending 15 long years (filled with migraine headaches) working in higher education marketing and public relations, I left my career to pursue writing full-time and have never looked back, or had a migraine since.
Are you a pantser or a plotter?
I get asked this question quite a lot. I do not plot out or outline my novels or screenplays. Instead, I believe that it's my job to get to know my characters so that they can ultimately dictate the action, not me. It's always important for me to get out of the way as the writer and let my characters live their own lives.
What are some things people don't know about you?
If I wasn't writing full-time, I'd probably attend the Italian Culinary Institute. I hope to open a supper club in Provincetown someday. I'm an only child. I love music from Eminem to Vivaldi and everything in between (except heavy metal). I'm terrified of roller coasters, clowns, and antique dolls. I complain a lot about winter but love the change of seasons. and do the bulk of my writing from December to April. I drink too much coffee, smoke an occasional cigar, and sometimes prefer my pets (two labrador retrievers named Jessie and Maggie and a Burmese cat named Phoebe) to people. I hate peas and elevators. I've hiked about 800 miles of the Appalachian Trail alone. I'm half Italian and half Polish and am a self-proclaimed sunset freak. I'm trying to improve my skills as a landscape photographer when I'm procrastinating. Oh, did I mention I'm a procrastinator?
What are you working on now?
I'm currently working on a Y.A. novel called The Ocean in Me. Grace Atwood struggles to cope with the sudden death of one of her mom’s. To build a new life for them both, her other mom decides to uproot them from their midwestern home to the small, artistic beach town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. But, Grace struggles to fit in at her new school and control her rage and loneliness. Will she ever know what it feels like to be normal?
Why do you write in so many genres?
I write romance, literary fiction, poetry, non-fiction, short stories, and screenplays. For me, writing in different genres isn't the goal. The story is paramount. The genre I choose to write in supports the story. There are some stories I wish to tell that just wouldn't work as a novel because they are too visual so a screenplay is a better choice. There are other stories that I really want to delve into the psychological aspects of a character's world, so I choose the novel for that. It honestly depends on the story. I do believe writing in multiple genres keeps me on my toes and helps me become a better writer.