Cassandra’s Comments (group member since Aug 19, 2010)

Cassandra’s comments from the Q&A with Cassandra Clare group.

Dianadee wrote: "in CA gabriel lightwood says no one expects will to live past 19 and jem's disability is killing him so he has about 3-4yrs to live. would that be the reason that Will seems to care only about Jem then anyone else?? and my theory on that is that Will opened the demon energy box and something happened to him thats killing him, sort of like what happened to Jem. And i also believe that made him somewhat insane.

Are you saying the reason Will cares only about Jem is because he thinks they're both going to die?

Lisarenee wrote: "***************Question about Clockwork Angel***********

Cassandra, Was it fun to do a book based in the 1800's? Did you have to do a lot of research for it? Was it more challenging than doing a contemporary piece of work?

For six months I read only books written during, or set in, the Victorian period in England, London specifically. I did a lot of reading of first-hand sources: journals kept at the time period, the travel accounts of tourists visiting England from America (since Tessa is American, in London for the first time, I wanted to have a sense of what her impressions would have been) and newspapers of the period. I also employed a research assistant — Lisa Gold — to track down hard to find photographs of locations in the time period, and went to London several times myself to map out routes and select locations.

Your book had a feel to it which reminded me of some of old movies, where they seem darker and just a touch more sinister than the more modern ones do. Were there any movies that inspired the setting? Oh, and I have to say I loved the artwork that you have on your website. The clockwork menu was a nice touch.

I did watch quite a lot of movies set in the Victorian era. I would note "From Hell" and "Sweeney Todd" as particular examples.

Also, I love that you created a set of runes and listed them there. Will you be adding to them in the future as more books are released?

Yes, the artist is working on a second set right now.


One more thing, I went to an exhibit at my local Museum of Science and Industry that was on Leonardo da Vinci. They showed a lot of designs that used clockwork mechanisms among others. The designs were truly amazing. Did you see any similar exhibits that inspired you to incorporate a clockwork mechanism into your book? "

No. I read a book called "Edison's Eve" about the historical obsession with creating automatons and clockwork mechanisms that helped spark the idea.

Austin wrote: "Hey Cassandra!
I wanted to say well done on Clockwork Angel. I truly did love it!
I was wondering what inspired you to think about Tessa's powers?
"

A story idea I had a long time ago about a shapeshifters brothel where you could "order up" any person you wanted to sleep with.

Amy wrote: "A"He saw a girl with long brown hair and a serious face. In a world where everything went away from him eventually, she was one of the few remaining constants."

I'm not sure if you can/are willing to answer any excerpt-related questions but it's worth a shot! :D Does this imply that Tessa's the only one (out of the main characters aside from Magnus and Camille) who is still alive by the time of the Mortal Instruments, or does the possibility exist that I misinterpreted the statement and am wrong? *hopes for latter answer*


You could be wrong. He could simply be thinking about how Tessa never changes, how her personality/their friendship is always constant. It doesn't mean everyone else is necessarily dead.

Sumaia wrote: "-*-*-*-*-*SPOILERS-SPOILERS-SPOILERS*-*-*-*-*-


I'm really interested in writing a book, but I want to know how to get a good idea, and how to make it good. I'm wondering how authors get the wonderful ideas they use in their books."

There is no magic formula for getting ideas. You just get them. Everyone gets them (And if you don't, I don't know what to tell you!) It's the processing of them into story that's important. Lawrence Watt Evans has a good article:'

http://www.watt-evans.com/wheredoyoug...

And about Clockwork Angel, you know how near the end of City of Glass Magnus had walked off close to the forest and was talking to a lady? I have a feeling that she was Camille ( Or at least someone important from The Infernal Devices)... Am I right?

That was Tessa.

Teamdemonpox wrote: " hi, cassandra ..I really enjoyed reading both mortal instruments and infernal devices series....It was awesome... I would like to ask if u say Jem and Tessa relationship is more heavily feature in CP , does that mean less emphasis on Will and Tessa's? Thank you..

Well, Tessa starts out the book having dismissed Will as a romantic prospect because of his awful behavior on the roof. However, that does not mean things are over for Will and Tessa. There is plenty of emphasis on them. There is just also plenty of emphasis on Jem and Tessa.

Jenny wrote: "Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions. For the next two books in the ID trilogy, will they be told solely from Tessa's point of view, or will they incorporate other characters..."

CA is not told from Tessa's viewpoint solely — think of the scene in the carriage with Will and Jem. Much like that, Tessa remains our central narrator but other characters POVs are also represented.

Jonathan wrote: "This question relates back to the other question someone answered about the Institute locations.

If say there was a problem in Toronto Canada, would they have to call the New york Institute or ..."

Toronto has its own Institute. And Charlotte will continue in the same role she had in CA; she is already an important character, and she develops over the course of the books.

Emma (Pulvis et umbra sumus) wrote: "Oh, and who in TMI and/or TID resembles you the most?

- Sorry, I know I ask a lot of Q's! I'M JUST SO EXCITED THAT YOU'RE ANSWERING! Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices ROCK!"

TMI: Simon
TID: Tessa

Emma (Pulvis et umbra sumus) wrote: "Hey Cassandra, the villain in the Circle 2 is someone we know from circle one! How well do we know him/her? Is it someone we've met briefly, or someone we've seen a lot of?"

Uh-uh. The only hint is it's someone you've seen before.

Natalie wrote: "Hey Cassandra,

I really enjoyed reading your books. They are one of my all time favourites and I could read them over and over again. Thank you for writing such incredible stories.

******SPOILER*..."

You might want to look at message 595 on the page before this one.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Ronna wrote: "1.) In the other questions you've already answered, you said we've seen Mortmain's ring in action in TMI. When or which book exactly?
2.) You said we already know the villain for TMI Cycle 2 and we would never see it coming. I've seriosly been listing all the characters I can remember in TMI. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how unexpected is this character t be the villain in TMI cycle 2: 10 being 'we would never see it coming'. And has this character appeared a lot in TMI Cycle 1?


1) We've seen a ring that works *like* Mortmain's in City of Bones. It's not the same ring.
2) Um... nine? I would say the fact that no one's guessed it yet - and people guess all sorts of random stuff - indicates it's not someone people expect.

J-ette wrote: "4270554 hey cassandra! im a HUGE FAN of TMI and CA...both were brilliant!!! anyway my question is for TMI though so: is there any possibility that i will scream at the book and throw it against the wall because did something extremely stupid? i kno ur not suppose to say anything about Clary and Jace's relationship but my question is basically will he do something any stupid boy would do in a relationship? Like cheat?
"

Jace wouldn't cheat on Clary. Not only would it be wildly out of character, but I also actually think it would be a really boring development. [Clary wouldn't cheat either, for the record.]

Dana wrote: "Heya(:,

I just heard somewhere that you have started a guide for the MI series? I was wondering if it would be published at all, spoilers, what's in it, etc?"

That's just a rumor. I said I've thought about it, but that's as far as it's gone.

Miri wrote: In City of Ashes there was still a lot of sexual tension between Jace and Clary even though they knew they were brother and sister, and they even thought about continuing their relationship in secret (mostly Jace), my question is even though you knew they weren't really related, was it still hard to write these particular scenes together and were you afraid of the affect it would have on your readers?

It was not remotely hard to write those scenes knowing they thought they were related. That was what made it fun. In fact, that is initially why I wasn't interested in writing about them after City of Glass — I couldn't imagine summoning up much interest in Clary and Jace who *didn't* think they were related. Fortunately I thought of something else horrible to do to them so my interest was rekindled and I think their scenes in CoFA are hotter than any they have in the previous books.

As for worrying about the effect it would have on readers, my goal was to write their love and their relationship in such a way that readers would root for them whether they were related or not. You always worry that you'll fall short of the challenge you set yourself, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.


My second question is who were the inspirations (if any) to Jem and Will's shockingly good looks?
"

I'm not sure I understand the question, but I am pretty sure I am not alone in not finding it difficult to dream up mental pictures of hot guys. :D

Jawn wrote: "hi cassandra!! you are one of my favourite authors :)

how did this story come about?

what prompted you to write a supernatural story?

why do you always make the leading man conceited and arrogant?"

1) I've already answered the "idea" question a ton of times (and I will tell you a secret about authors - we *hate* the "where did you get the idea" question — I have never met an author who doesn't — even though we know that you have a perfect right to ask it, and if I was you, I'd probably ask it, too.)

2) You write what you love to read. I love supernatural stories.

3)*is amused* It's not a play. Will isn't more a leading man than Jem, who isn't conceited, or arrogant. In Jace's case, the conceit and arrogance was only half true - he was really a bit up himself about his Shadowhuntery talents and so forth, but he had a big dose of self-hate to counteract it. In Will's case all the arrogance and conceit is a false front, and, as I said before, he's meant as a commentary on Jace.

Adele wrote: "-In Clockwork Angel, are there like any hidden hints throughout the book that hint at what Will's secret is?

Yes.

-Is Tessa immortal (because we saw her at the end of MI 150 years later) during Clockwork Angel, or does she become immortal during the rest of the series?

She's already immortal.

How old were you when you finnished your first novel?
"

Fourteen? It sucked, too. Majorly.

Alison Since your schedule is to release two books a year, which ones (both ID and MI) have already been finished (meaning you have the entire novel written, not necessarily including edits) and which are still in line to be written? I understand you said you outline very thoroughly, so I was curious as to how many of the books have been written?"

City of Fallen Angels is written. Clockwork Prince is half written. I will start City of Lost Souls in February.

Emmaworsham wrote: "Everyone keeps asking about Madame Dorothea and her little prophecy thing with Jace. But if you hadn't planed on writing these next three books then shouldn't that have already happened? Tell me if I'm just really confused but it seems like that should be the case. So will we find out about that in the next three?"

Remember way back in a past post when I said that readers fixate on things you think of as unimportant? That's how I feel about Madame Dorothea's prophecy. It was never meant to be important. Never. To me it was just meant to be in there as part of the uncertainties of life and to give Clary a chance to turn down the Seelie Queen later with a bang. But people are so obsessed with it that I decided to address it in the upcoming books.

Cindy wrote: "I just wanted to say I love your books, I was so excited when you announced there would be 3 more books in TMI series i cant wait. I bought Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1) and in the process of reading it.
I've read some of the TMI on mundie mom and all i can say is wow, your a wonderful author. My question is: I know in the begining of "city of Fallen Angels" Clary and Jace are together, and you have mentioned that one of the main characters will die......well actually i would like to ask and beg please dont kill them off... I love clary and jace and after so many problems (and im guessing more to come) it would be very sad if its not a happy ending. I know a good story can not be without complications but in this series i hope you give us (the readers) a happy ending Please."

So not really a question, more a comment. :) Hey, I've been where you are — writers are readers, too. We do understand worrying about the fates of your favorite characters.