It was a picture of Loreena McKennitt that sparked The Wild Swans, although I had never heard her music before. The description of Eliza, my main character, is entirely based upon her, albeit at a younger age. I mentioned in the author's afterward the dream I had that started the book. In my dream, I saw a woman dressed in black sitting on a park bench on a gray day, watching swans swim in the pond in front of her. The woman didn't speak, but I thought she looked beautiful. I was trying to decide what book to write next, and the swans, and the woman's silence, made me think of the Hans Christian Andersen story "The Wild Swans."
A few days later, I was paging through the newspaper, and saw a picture that made me pause. "That looks like the woman in my dream," I thought. Long, wispy hair, a face that was unusual, rather than classically beautiful, with eyes that looked right through you.
A few days after that, I was listening to the radio, and heard this gorgeous soprano voice I'd never heard before singing "The Bonny Swans." I had swans on the brain because of my dream, so I stopped to listen, spellbound. "That was Loreena McKennitt," the announcer said. "Tickets for her concert are now on sale."
Loreena McKennitt? Wasn't that the name of the woman I'd seen in the picture in the newspaper, the one that looked like the woman in my dream? I dug the newspaper out of the recycling stack and checked, and sure enough, it was her. Obviously, the universe was trying to tell me something. I went to the phone, ordered the tickets and went to the concert. I went out during intermission and bought every single one of her CDs and have listened to them ever since. I borrowed "the look" in the newspaper picture for Lizzie (Eliza's modern doppelganger) in the magic shop scene. I particularly listened to "The Mask and the Mirror" compulsively while writing The Wild Swans, and I use bits of her songs for chapter epigraphs.
Loreena McKennitt
A few days later, I was paging through the newspaper, and saw a picture that made me pause. "That looks like the woman in my dream," I thought. Long, wispy hair, a face that was unusual, rather than classically beautiful, with eyes that looked right through you.
A few days after that, I was listening to the radio, and heard this gorgeous soprano voice I'd never heard before singing "The Bonny Swans." I had swans on the brain because of my dream, so I stopped to listen, spellbound. "That was Loreena McKennitt," the announcer said. "Tickets for her concert are now on sale."
Loreena McKennitt? Wasn't that the name of the woman I'd seen in the picture in the newspaper, the one that looked like the woman in my dream? I dug the newspaper out of the recycling stack and checked, and sure enough, it was her. Obviously, the universe was trying to tell me something. I went to the phone, ordered the tickets and went to the concert. I went out during intermission and bought every single one of her CDs and have listened to them ever since. I borrowed "the look" in the newspaper picture for Lizzie (Eliza's modern doppelganger) in the magic shop scene. I particularly listened to "The Mask and the Mirror" compulsively while writing The Wild Swans, and I use bits of her songs for chapter epigraphs.
Peg