Sushirainbow

Hey guys how’s it going? Today I have a special guest on the blog today.

The Amazing Brindi Quinn

Brindi is a dear friend of mine who writes very unique worlds and characters. Because of this, I thought it would be a fun idea to have her do a special post with me. I also personally recommend the Lightborne and Enternity duets. I hope you guys enjoy this post!

Bio

Brindi Quinn is a fangirling fantasy author from Minnesota specializing in world-building and romance. She is an advocate of quirky love and firmly believes that banter makes the heart grow fonder. Her main ingredients for a great read are spice, sparkle, and SWOON.
Since 2011, Brindi has written over a dozen young adult and new adult novels beginning with her debut epic fantasy series, Heart of Farellah. Her works often blur the lines between
paranormal romance, science fiction, and fantasy, and her series have been hailed as unique, addictive reads by reviewers. 
Brindi is an IT Project Manager by day and has a bachelor’s in communication-based studies from Southern New Hampshire University. She lives in suburban Minnesota where she likes to bike, indulge in video game lore, and spend time with her life partner, Kent, the world’s cutest pup, Burton, and the fluffle of cantankerous rabbits that hop around her house.
Brindi is published through Midnight Tide Publishing and Never & Ever Publishing.

Interview Questions

1. Brindi, when you first decided you wanted to become an author, why did you pick romance as the genre you wanted to write and to follow up why did you want to expand past contemporary?
   Complex answer is that romance opens the door for a whole spectrum of emotions and human (or non-human) experiences—lust, desire, longing, pain, sorrow, elation, pleasure—and I find it allows me to create more intimate stories for the reader. Simple (maybe truer) answer is that writing romance is just more fun! Like the reader gets to feel all those stomach-dropping, shivery, swoony moments while reading, I also get to experience them while writing. As far as magical/fantasy/SF elements, similar answer. I write the things I like to read, and I don’t think I could write a book that was straight contemporary because I’d lose interest.
2. What helps you come up with your ideas I.e., another form of media, research, etc.?
   That’s a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of times it’s just a moment in nature. Standing outside in the quiet and feeling a rush of leaves hit my ankles. Those sorts of little moments transport me, and suddenly, I want to develop an entire scene around them. My books are very emotionally driven, so a lot of time I think about the feeling of a scene before plopping in the world and characters. I have done books based on what-if scenarios that just sort of pop into my head, too.
   Those are some of my dystopian reads like The World Remains or Zillow Stone. Or based around specific creatures, like Come True (genies) or Marley Craw (reapers). I do use inspiration pictures and music to help with my writing process.

3. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? One of the
   people/creatures you have listed or something completely different?
   Hmm, maybe a fox? Or a raccoon. Something cute and unassuming but also a little sneaky. I
   think as a person I’m both approachable and shrewd, and so are many of my characters. And I love, love, love leaving breadcrumbs for twists that the reader doesn’t notice until after the twist has already hit them.
4. What was the most surprising thing you learned when creating your books whether it is the publishing process, that you do not write the same for each series etc.
   Before writing, the thought of completing an entire book seemed insurmountable. So many
   pages, so many words, and where does the climax hit? Is the dialog believable? Have the
   characters grown? I think the most surprising thing for me after writing many books is that
   writing, itself, is easy. The actual act of creating stories, people, twists, worlds—that comes easy.
   The hard part is marketing. Convincing people to choose my books out of the multitude of books
   that are out there. I have always worked hard to create vivid imagery, fluid prose, and unique
   plots, but many, many readers continue to want simple writing, dark-haired morally gray love
   interests, and books about vampires and fae, so it’s sometimes hard to stay true to my aesthetic while remaining motivated to seek out the right type of readers for my work.

Thank you so much Brindi for answering these interview questions. Now what Brindi and I are going to do now is pick some of our favorite unique creatures and the media we love them in. Brindi is up first!

Brindi’s Picks

1. Genies
   Genies are my FAVORITE. I loved I Dream of Jeannie as a kid, and my dream was always
   to write a gender-bent version of it, where the genie is a male and the master is a
   female. And that’s basically the basis for my entire Come True series (although the plots
   are nothing alike). I love the idea of being able to use magic but only for another
   person’s benefit, the proximity/intimacy it forces with their masters, their cool bottles
   where they can hide always all their secrets, and that whole slinky/boho vibe they’ve
   got going on. My genies siphon off the soul in exchange for wishes, and while they can
   use independent, specialized magic (such as ink magic or rage magic), they are always
   most powerful when a master’s wish drives their spells.

2. Leprechauns
This is one of those mythical races you don’t see a lot of and have a huge amount of
potential. In my books, I always love to use essence sharing (desire sharing, thought
sharing, power sharing), and my most recent exploration has been luck sharing via a
cute twenty-something male leprechaun I introduce in my upcoming book, Granted. My
character is an adrenaline junkie, allowing his luck to lead him into dangerous situations
and relishing the close calls it causes. He also has the ability to temporarily bequeath his
luck unto others, which makes for a great plot ingredient.

3. Grim Reapers
These are featured in my Marley Craw book, where a grim reaper falls for the ghost he’s
supposed to be shepherding to the afterlife. The reason I love grim reapers is because
they’re locked into this dark association with death, regardless of their individual
personalities or wants. Having a fate tied to such a morose occupation allows for
complex, conflicted characters that are caught between worlds. My version of a grim
reaper is (of course) hot and says things like, “Death loves life, even if life fears death.
You’re designed to move towards, and at the same time, fear me, as I’m made to crave
you.”

4.Huldra
These are probably the first on this list many readers have never heard of. They come
from Scandinavian folklore and are seductive forest women with tails, kind of like the
forest’s version of a sea siren. I use them in my Eternity Duet series to lure the male
party members into danger. Though they’re the bad guys in my books, they don’t have
to be, and I would love to see more stories featuring them—because who doesn’t love a
race of women that can easily defeat their enemies using their feminine power? (Men,
probably.)

5. Sphinxes
This is another one I use in my Eternity Duet series, where the main character is a
quarter-sphinx descendant who is human in appearance but retains some of his
ancestors’ power, such as the ability to make riddle-bound deals and his crafty, golden
eyes that disarm people. In mythology, these have the head of a human, the haunches
of a lion, and the wings of a bird and are known to guard treasure and kill those who
can’t answer their riddles. The main reason I like them is because of they give off a
refined, secretive vibe and attack with wit.

6. Incubi
My Crown Saga series features a variation of incubi called ‘Spirites’ who draw power
from desire and have the ability to beguile/glamor their victims into submission. The
version in my books used to be predators of the human race but have since evolved out
of those tendencies, and many humans now pay them to experience the feel of their
magic. My FMC teases the MMC about his ‘sex power,’ but having creatures with desire-
driven power is kind of a romantasy writer’s dream because it opens the door for sexual
tension and lusty moments. I adore them for their struggle to walk the line between
their evolved humanity and their deep-rooted predatorial instincts.

7. Darkness/Shadow Wielders
I may have teased about morally gray characters in an earlier interview question, but
really, I’ve written many of those too, and most of them wield darkness. There’s just
something sexy about a character that can command shadow, and mine are usually able
to transfer that shadow into others to control them, remedy them, hear their thoughts,
or inebriate them. Some of my series show shadow-wielders as descendants of dragons,
as light-bearers that have become corrupted by darkness, or as those that have been
possessed by a goddess of destruction. I love writing scenes with shadow as an element
because of its dark, fluid, seductive nature.

Sushi’s Picks

1.Krakens

Krakens are a new creature that I am interested in media now because of Stalked by the Kraken by Lillian Lark. Lillian Lark made Gideon so intense but also fascinating at the same time. I also wonder what it would be like to have multiple tentacles help with certain things. Also, the ability to love shiny things I think I already am one if that is the case, Haha!!

2.Ayakashi/Yokai

This is probably the creature that I have consumed the most in Asian fantasy media especially anime. I like them because there are a variety but also because each kind has their own story to tell like gods and goddesses. Some of them also look so beautiful as well. But make sure you don’t get tricked by any of them!! Demon Prince of Momochi house is a fantastic entry point and Kakuriyo is also beautiful as well.

3.Dragons

I personally think Dragons are the creatures that kids see the most in their childhood first and not just because of Dragon Tales and How to train your Dragon. Because there are moments that they look majestic and beautiful like horses and unicorns, but they can also be greedy and misers with their treasures as well (man I love the creatures who love shiny stuff huh??). I also back in day pretended to have an imaginary dragon named Dragoon. Obsessed with Dragons.

4.Faeries

Fae, the thieves of the creature world. They can be such tricksters. However, with some of the media they make the environment better with being in charge of the plants and the seasons animals etc. I also love how now they have fairies that take care of technology etc. I love how versatile they can be and be a variety of shapes and sizes. My first media consumption of Fae was Tinkerbell in the Peter Pan play (play not movie), but I love the movies with her world more. I think the other piece of media that makes me enjoy Fae is the original show Winx Club because of the versatility of the Fairy Dust.

5.Witches

I think this is the creature that I most feared when I was young, but I believe they have the most media representation in the supernatural world. Spells, familiars etc. There are a ton of different representations of witchcraft and wizardry out there (I believe something for everyone??). Now that I am older, I love witch stories now and highly recommend them for some people who just want a little whimsy like Sabrina the teenage witch or when you need something spooky and dark in some moments like Hex Next Door by Lou Wilham and the Wicked book/musical.

6. Elves

Elves are still a complete mystery to me because they have a variety of depictions in media that just are so different from each other that I just do not know. At first, I just thought elves were just Santa’s helpers but there are more to it than that especially in the fantasy stories. I just know they have powers and can be small or human sized. I remember watching the Christmas movies with all of the elves running around and then I saw Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s interpretation of elves was so surprising to me especially their majestics. Keeper of the Lost cities by Shannon Messenger is a book series I’d love to read to see their elves alone, but I am intimidated by their sheer size.

7. Mermaids

Mermaids the beauties of the sea. I do not know about you guys but when I was little in the swimming pool, I imagined I was a mermaid in the sea looking through all the fish etc. I love how swift their tails look and how their voices ring out across the seas. Truly beautiful. Everyone movie wise started out with Little Mermaid but book wise I started out with the Tail of Emily Windsnap. My second anime I ever watched too was Mermaid Melody and for that reason alone, I highly recommend it.

I hope everyone enjoyed these unique creature picks! If you guys have any picks that Brindi or I missed, please put them down in our comments. Thank you so much Brindi for the opportunity to interview you and to collaborate on this blog post. Is there anything else you would like to add to the readers and where can they find you on the interwebs?

I’m @brindiful on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. The second book in my Come True series, Granted: A Bomb-Ass Genie Sequel, releases December 14 through Midnight Tide Publishing with this beautiful cover.

and you can find out more about that series and my full catalog of works at http://www.brindiful.com.
Thank you so much for the opportunity. This was so fun to put together!

Thank you SO much Brindi for this opportunity!!! Please Please check out Brindi’s Books if you haven’t already!!

Also, if you want to support me and also want to request a specific blog post, please support me on my Kofi account: https://ko-fi.com/christinasushirainbow27269 . I would appreciate it but there is no pressure at all. Thank you in advance.