Interview: Victoria Brun

The Orange & Bee are delighted to be the publishers of Victoria Brun’s story ‘I never went to Faerie’ (Issue ten).

Victoria Brun is a writer and project manager at a national laboratory. When not bugging hardworking scientists about budget reports and service agreements, she’s writing stories and nonfiction pieces you can find at Clarkesworld Magazine, Nature Futures, Factor Four Magazine, and beyond. She’s also the editor of the drabble magazine 100-Foot Crow. Find her at victoriabrun.com.

Where did your idea for ‘I never went to Faerie’ come from?

I work in cancer research, and this piece was loosely inspired by hearing a patient advocate discuss how earthshattering receiving a cancer diagnosis can be. She said something like ‘once you hear the word “cancer,” all you hear the rest of the day is the “wah wah wah” sound from Peanuts.’ I took that idea and ran with it (all the way to Faerie).

If you went to Faerie, which court would you join?

It would have to be the Seelie Court. I don’t think I’d survive in Unseelie.

What is your favourite fairy tale creature?

I’m a big fan of the kelpie from Scottish folklore. I love the imagery of a horse rising from the water with sinister motives. It’s as terrifying as it is beautiful.

Using just six words, can you describe your writing process?

Ten percent writing. Ninety percent editing.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

If I didn’t spend most of my free time writing, I think I’d get back into drawing. I haven’t touched a drawing pad in many months, and I won’t claim any particular skill as an artist, but I enjoy it. I think it’s important to have a creative pursuit.

Read Victoria Brun’s fiction published by The Orange & Bee:

• ‘I never went to Faerie’