My pictures of the characters in The Wild Swans

[pegkerr]

I posted this over at bookworms_inc as part of the discussion of The Wild Swans, and I thought I'd cross-post it here for my own reference.

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I thought it might be interesting for people, as they read the book, to take a look at the pictures of the characters that I collected. Often, when I am in the very beginning process of developing a character, I get a vague impression of the person's appearance--and then I see a picture in a magazine, or pass someone in the street, and think, "Oh, so THAT'S what he looks like!" I have been known to go up to total strangers to ask to take their picture because they remind me of someone in my book.

Sometimes the picture I see can have a striking influence. For example, I "saw" Sean one day in the downtown Minneapolis public library (unfortunately, I had no camera with me at the time). He was a handsome young man with a sensitive face and mustache. The key thing was that he was wearing a cream wool Irish sweater. It was that little detail that made me decide to make Sean an Irish musician.

If he had been wearing a Hawaiian shirt, it would have been a completely different book.

This is the picture which started it all:

Loreena McKennitt This picture of Loreena McKennitt was the image that crystallized the character of Eliza in my imagination. I kept this picture and referred to it throughout the writing of the novel. Note the hooded eyes, wide mouth, "feathery" hair and strong jaw line, all part of Eliza's characterization.

A few days after I had the dream that I mentioned in the book's afterward, of a silent woman with a striking face, sitting on a park bench in a deserted city park, I ran across this picture in the newspaper. I thought, "Huh, she kind of looks like the woman in my dream." I didn't cut the picture out. A few days later, I was listening to "The Thistle and Shamrock" and a gorgeous woman's voice was singing, "The Bonny Swans." I turned up the radio, wondering who was it who was singing so beautifully. "That was Loreena McKennitt" the announcer said, "who will appearing in concert next week." Loreena McKennitt? I was sure I had read that name recently. Then it occurred to me: that was the name of the woman in the picture in the newspaper. I went and dug it out of the stack and cut it out. The face and the swans: it must be a sign. I went to the phone and ordered tickets to the concert. Her music blew me away: I bought all of her CDs and listened to them over and over while writing the book.

Circus Memories Another strong influence on my mental image of Eliza. I have had a poster made from the left half of this picture (girl on rock and swans only) hanging in my office for several years (Patricia C. Wrede gave it to me when I started writing the book). I had never seen the right hand part of it until I went to look for it on the Internet. Mysterious and beautiful, although in my copy the girl's hair isn't quite so brilliantly red. The swans are perfect, too.

Flora Another influence on my image of Eliza. My best friend, Kij Johnson, sent this art postcard to me, and I kept it over my desk. "Flora" by Pre-Raphaelite painter Evelyn de Morgan. Captures "the look" well.

Elias I've had great luck finding characters in restaurants. This young man served me a meal about six months after I started writing the book, and I got his permission to come back later for his picture. He is Elias to me.

Elias Another picture of my Elias.

Suzanne, my image of Patience She was a secretary who worked in my office, who had a marvelous singing voice and an infectiously ribald laugh. And yes, she did sing Patsy Cline. I based Patience Carter/Patty on her.

Patience Another picture of my Patience, a little out of focus.

Patience A third picture of Patience

William This man, Vince, was the voice mail technician my law firm hired. He had long hair (in this picture gathered at the nape of his neck), and imagine it, flowing from beneath a Puritan minister's hat. He became my William. I think he also looks like an uncharacteristically cheerful Snape.

William Another shot of my William. He had a fascinating build, sort of rangy, and a disconnected, loping walk. Bad teeth, too--good period detail. Six months later he came in with a buzz cut and earring, and I thought--now he's Bill!

Comments

[disposable-hero.livejournal.com]

Hi there, Peg. I don't think I've ever commented on your journal before, though I've been reading for a long time.

I just finished The Wild Swans for the first time a couple of days ago (it's actually sitting directly to the left of me right now). I choked up at the end; I loved how sensitively you handled Elias, and how much controlled emotion was beneath the surface at the Quilt. And Eliza's story-- so wonderfully visual, but not at all blaring-- quiet and subtle and scented with herbs.

But I'm writing the comment to say-- thanks for reposting this! I found the old entry when I was surfing your tags, but Yahoo blocked me, and I couldn't see the pictures. Now I can, and although my mental images of the characters don't match the pictures, I do something similar (I tend to draw mine), so it's neat to see how the characters live and look in your head.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed the book! You are more than welcome to join the discussion over at bookworms_inc. I'll be posting more on various aspects of how I came to write it. Mmm. (I may cross post them here, just so I can tag them for people to find.)