Episode 367: Character Dynamics in a Fairytale Retelling — Interview with Brandie June

by Gabriela Pereira
published in Podcast

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Brandie June.

Brandie spent most of her childhood onstage or reading, as both activities let her live in fantastic stories. She moved to Los Angeles to study acting at UCLA, and eventually branched out into costume design and playwriting. While she spends most of her free time writing, she will still take any excuse to play dress-up, especially if it involves wearing a crown. 

She happily promotes more stories as a marketing director for kids’ films and anime. When not writing or marketing, she can often be found doing aerial arts, playing board games, drinking too much espresso, and coming up with new art projects. She lives with her husband, two spoiled rescue pups, a spoiled cat, six fish tanks, and five bookshelves.

Today we’ll be discussing her debut novel, Gold Spun.

In this episode Brandie and I discuss:

  • How a love of fairytales and a unique NaNoWriMo project led to her debut novel.
  • Why she likes morally grey characters and how she brought that out in Goldspun.
  • What factors influenced her decision to not worry about historical accuracy.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Brandie June

Brandie June spent most of her childhood onstage or reading, as both activities let her live in fantastic stories. She moved to Los Angeles to study acting at UCLA, and eventually branched out into costume design and playwriting. While she spends most of her free time writing, she will still take any excuse to play dress-up, especially if it involves wearing a crown. She happily promotes more stories as a marketing director for kids’ films and anime. When not writing or marketing, she can often be found doing aerial arts, playing board games, drinking too much espresso, and coming up with new art projects. She lives with her husband, two spoiled rescue pups, a spoiled cat, six fish tanks, and five bookshelves. 

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Gold Spun

Brandie June

Nor was once the happy daughter of a miller, but that was before her father died in the Southern War and soldiers set fire to her village. Now, she’s a seventeen-year-old swindler, performing whatever tricks and deceptions will bring in enough coin to feed her and her brothers. One day she finds a faerie boy being held captive by outlaws. Though Nor knows all the tales of the fay and their deadly blood magic, she goes against her better judgement and frees him. In return, the beautiful and mysterious faerie, Pel, gifts her with a golden thread.

Nor decides to use the thread to convince local villages that she can spin straw into gold, but just as the con begins, Prince Casper arrives in town. Seeing through her deception, Casper intends to make an example of Nor, forcing her to spin all her straw into gold, with the promise of marrying her should she succeed. But should she fail, her life and those of her brothers will be forfeit. In desperation, Nor calls on Pel for help, even knowing that his dark magic comes with a price.

From thief to future queen, Nor’s story has only just begun. Attacks from the fay force Nor to question her friendship with Pel, while preparing for her life as a queen makes Nor wonder if this is the life she truly wants to lead.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 367

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