McMillan was the 2017–2018 Cuyahoga County Writer-in-Residence and currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, Massachusetts. She practiced law until 2003 and then received her MFA in creative writing from Bennington College. She grew up in Pasadena, California, and now lives on her husband’s family farm outside of Cleveland, Ohio, with their two children.
My Q&A with the author:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Learn more about the book and author at Claire McMillan's website.
I like a title that's a little mysterious and a little poetic. It also satisfies when a title strikes like an 'a-ha' at some point in the book. Remedios Varo's journey is one of finding herself, her artistic expression, and her own voice as a painter. She was also heavily influenced by the tarot and the spiritual in her work. I had a long list of words associated with these topics that I wanted to incorporate into the title, and I'd often play around with them when I was stuck writing. When I came up with Alchemy of a Blackbird I loved it, and I never thought my publisher would let me keep it. To my surprise, they loved it too.
What's in a name?
Since I was writing historical fiction about actual people, the names were a given. That said, it's daunting to write about real people. In the process of my research I tried to get a feel for the characters since I invented their emotions and dialogue. I wanted to ground that in as much background as I could to make it seem plausible.
How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?
My teenaged self would be shocked and delighted that I even wrote a novel. I wrote short stories throughout high school and college, but I chose to go to law school because I wanted a stable way to support myself. I was miserable as a litigator, though the money was good. When my husband and I moved to Cleveland, we had enough breathing space that I could take a flyer on writing. My teenaged self would be so glad I’d found a way back to what I’d always wanted to do.
Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?
Halfway through each of my books there came a point where I knew what I wanted the ending to be. I then wrote that scene, full out, in one sitting. With Alchemy of a Blackbird, I absolutely knew I wanted the novel to end with a fully embodied and empowered Remedios making her way through the world. As for beginnings, what is initially the beginning in draft form almost never winds up the beginning in the final draft. Along the way it gets sliced, diced, tinkered with, and massagedalmost daily. My initial beginnings are entirely unrecognizable from the end result.
Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?
I started researching Varo's life after viewing her painting, The Call. I had no idea that I'd write about her. I just wanted to know everything about the person who painted that picture. But as I learned more about her life, I felt an affinity with her. We have very different life circumstances, but her calling to be an artist, her struggle to be true to herself, her fascination and engagement with the esoteric all spoke very directly to me.
What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?
Varo's paintings had a huge impact on me and are the basis for me writing the book. Similarly, the tarot has been a steady influence on this book. I had been studying tarot mainly as a form of self-reflection and self-discovery for many years and never thought it would come into my work.
Writers Read: Claire McMillan (September 2017).
--Marshal Zeringue