Cassandra Clare is a writer from Brooklyn, New York. Her first book, an urban fantasy novel for young adults centering on the adventures of the demon-fighting Nephilim (also called Shadowhunters), ‘City of Bones’, was published in 2007 by Simon and Schuster. It has since been followed by ‘City of Ashes’ and ‘City of Glass’.
EB: What drew you to writing urban fantasy, especially urban fantasy that references ancient religious myth?
Cassandra: I knew from the start I wanted to set these books in New York City because I had just moved there when I started writing them and I found it to be such a fantastical place, so the series is something of a love letter to New York. And I’d read a lot of urban fantasy that drew on folklore and fairy tales — like Holly Black and Emma Bull’s books. I knew I wanted to do something similar, but that drew on mythology — the stories of gods and angels, devils and demons — instead of folklore.
EB: What did you read as a teenager, and did any of it influence your work?
C: As a teenager I read a lot of classic fantasy — Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, E. Nesbit, CS Lewis, and more modern fantasy like Susan Cooper and Lloyd Alexander. Then I graduated to real classic urban fantasy like the Borderlands books and Charles De Lint’s work. I am sure that my early reading gave me an enduring love of fantasy literature that influences me now, as well as introducing me to urban fantasy as a genre.
EB: You travelled all over the world with your parents when you were a child, and you still love to travel. Have your travels or certain experiences you had while travelling found their way into your writing? And what has been your favourite destination thus far?
C: It would be so hard to pick just one destination, especially when there are so many places I have yet to go! My love of London has inspired me to set my next series there, The Infernal Devices, which takes place in England in 1878. And some of the features of Idris, the Shadowhunters’ home country, came from my travels in Italy.
EB: Could you please tell me a little of how “City of Bones” came to be written?
C: I was in a tattoo shop in the East Village with a friend who was trying to convince me to get a tattoo. I didn’t wind up getting one, but I did get the idea for a secret world of demon hunters whose magic system was based on tattoos. From that, I developed the world and the story.
EB: What is your vision in writing the “Mortal Instruments” series, and what do you hope your readers draw from it?
C: I suppose I had a sort of modern epic in mind — something that was like the books I used to love, with a big fantasy background and a lot of sweep and a real battle between good and evil, but grounded in our modern, relatable world. I hope people draw what they want and need out of it — I think it was JK Rowling who said a book is like a mirror and no two people see the same thing looking into one.
EB: The characters in the “Mortal Instruments” series are all have many different backgrounds, reflecting the reality of any city in the world. How important do you feel it is to draw on this diversity among people, and what was it that prompted you to do so?
C: Well, New York is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in the world, and I don’t think there would be a way to fairly represent it, as a city, that didn’t reflect that. I believe that authors don’t have a responsibility to include “messages” in their work, but they do have a responsibility to write a world that seems true and real, never more than when expecting readers to believe in magic and angels and fairies.A non-diverse New York just doesn’t seem real.
EB: You have some devoted and talented fans. Some of the fan art I saw on your website was really fantastic. How does their response to your writings make you feel?
C: Well, for such a long time, when you’re a writer, you really are just writing for yourself, and maybe a few friends. So it’s really amazing when your book gets out there and more people are reading and responding to it. It really makes the world of the books feel real.
EB: You’ve said that you create many characters in your books by blending together aspects of people you know, and you’ve also said that you make up the demons not based on folklore. How do you set about creating the demons? I hope they’re not based on people you know!
C: The demons are actually based a bit on folklore — just not on mythology: i.e. I’ve tried not to ground them in any specific religion. There are Tibetan skeleton demons, and Japanese oni demons, and the idea that demons are allergic to/hate gold and other precious metals is taken from Chinese demonology. Otherwise I just sit around trying to come up with hideous and horrible images. It’s pretty fun.
EB: What was the inspiration for the Cup, Mirror, and Sword?
C: I wanted the Mortal Instruments to feel ancient and mythic in their importance. All those objects — cups, mirrors and swords — have a long and storied mythological past, and therefore a lot of mythic resonance. The Cup recalls the Grail and Grain legends, the Mirror the magic mirror of fairy tales, and there are countless legendary swords, from Excalibur to Durendal.
EB: I read that you have two cats? How are they doing? Could you please tell me a little about them?
C: I have one cat, Linus, who is huge, and another cat, Lucy, who is tiny. I’m writing this from book tour in Germany, so I’m sure they miss me. Sometimes my fiancé sends me pictures of them doing amusing things, like falling off tables.
No comments yet.