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

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

Talia wrote: "This is sort of random but, what kind of upbringing do warlocks usually have? Magnus was obviously not raised by his biological parents, but what about other warlocks? Do they find another warlock to raise/train them?

Lousy upbringings, usually. If their human parent is female, it's a good chance she didn't know she was sleeping with a demon (incubus) or was raped by a demon, so her relationship with her demon baby is going to be not great. If the human parent is male, he usually has no idea he fathered a kid in the first place. Warlocks tended to end up a lot in orphanages or abandoned or killed by their parents. If raised by a demon mother, they tended to be the sort to turn to the darker arts on growing up.

This is also random but me and my friend were debating this. Who is a better kisser, Magnus or Jace?

Magnus has had many more years of practice, but Jace has natural talent. ;>


3. And finally, do Did Alec see Magnus when Clary did her love rune and vice versa? "

Yes.

Beth wrote: "Last week, I read City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass and Clockwork Angel. I just couldn't put them down! I loved them! My only problem is now I have to wait until April for your next boo..."

It's more of an homage. It's not an important plot factor - just a cute connector.

Jen wrote: "Like any famous series such as Harry Potter and Twilight, there are inevitably going to be people who write up a bad review on The Mortal Instruments. Do you ever read bad reviews on the books? Have you ever read an offensive review?

There are reviews, and there are reviews. I read my professional reviews (Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, Voya, etc. because those are the reviews that matter to my publisher and are widely seen by booksellers, etc. Might as well know what they say.) I do not seek out other reviews, or ever read other reviews unless, say, a blogger has reviewed my book and tweeted or emailed me a link. Then I send the link to someone I trust and ask "Should I read this?" Meaning: if it contains criticism, is it the useful kind. A review doesn't have to be unmitigatedly positive to be interesting or useful — I read once of CA recently where the reviewer absolutely hated both Will and Jem, especially Jem, but she had other, interesting things to say about the book. However, if my my review-approvers say that the review contains ad hominem attacking, is inaccurate, or honestly, is just plain stupid or crazy - basically, if they say don't read it — I don't. It's my filtration system.

I firmly believe everyone has the right to state their honest opinions about my work as they see fit. I also believe I have the right not to read them.

The only kind of reviews that I find offensive are the kind where the person criticizes the book for containing gay relationships. Gay teenagers exist, and are deserving of compassion and representation. I find discrimination against anyone for sexual identity to be absolutely reprehensible, and when I get those kind of comments, I find it difficult not to respond with disgust.

Ronna wrote: "I have another Q.

In CoFA, will we ever know the reason how Simon can walk on daylight?"

That question was answered in City of Glass. (Come on, I bet someone else can answer this for me — you know what the answer is!)

Guys — there's already a Q and A thread — it would be great if you could post your questions there because otherwise I won't notice them here.

Kai wrote: "***SPOILER FOR CITY OF GLASS****

I was reading the part when Sebastian kissed Clary, and she thought it felt really wrong.
I read on your blog that the reason it felt wrong was because he was part demon... but wouldn't it feel wrong because he was actually her brother?

I often tell the story of how I got the idea for Jace and Clary's relationship: it was a newspaper article about two people who'd met, fallen in love, gotten married I believe, and only when they decided to have kids and went for genetic testing did they find out they were brother and sister. One of them had been adopted and had never known it. They never had any "magical" sense that the other one was a relative; if you want to read the Clary/Sebastian scene that way, you can, but there's no scientific or historical evidence that would back up the idea that she'd feel that way. I mean, there's magic in the books so perhaps she magically senses he's her brother, but magically sensing that he's a demon makes just as much sense if not more.

I was also wondering what sort of books influence your own writing and how many drafts of City of Bones you went through before you got a publisher to sign on.

All sorts of books influence my writing. I usually list the ones out of my genre because that's more unexpected than the usual list of urban fantasy. So I'll say noir detective novels for their evocation of urban spaces: Chandler, Parker, Hammett, etc.


Annnnddd I was wondering why in CA Magnus Bane wasn't gay.

*takes long, deep zen breath.*

Okay. I'm not mad at you, I really am not, but I am beyond baffled that I keep getting this question. How is it that when presented with a character who is obviously interested sexually in both men and women, the question is "Why is he not gay?" Isn't it obvious that he is, in fact, bisexual? I mean it isn't as if he's trying to like women and failing: he's clearly into Camille. And he is also clearly into men in CA as well. He hints strongly at it in the party scene with his comments about de Quincey wanting to be more than friends and his comment that "Will was beautiful; Magnus had been in love many times throughout the years, and normally beauty of any sort moved him, but Will’s never had" which would indicate that, in fact, if Will wasn't so cold, Magnus would probably be into him.

Magnus is bisexual. He has always been. He always will be. Bisexual is not the same as gay. That's why they get their own letter in the LGBT acronym.

Gauri wrote: "***** SPOILER FOR MORTAL INSTRUMENTS*****

I am hearing that Clary and Jace start to date in the other books. I am only on City of Ashes ( I LOVE IT ) Is this true/ or will it ruin it all for me?

AGAIN 0___0 - - - GAURI >_<

You should not be in this session at all! You will get spoiled!

Athena wrote: "Here's another question: Do you relate songs to your books? If so which one would match TMI? ID?"

http://www.cassandraclare.com/cms/faq...

Gauri wrote: "***SPOILER***

My Question Ms. Clare was - Does Jace and Clary still rememeber there kiss in C/B. Or does it just not come up as a discussion anymore in any of the books? "

*scratches head* While I'm sure they do remember their first kiss, I'm not sure why it would come up?

Candace wrote: "**Spoiler for Clockwork Angel**
I haven’t seen this question yet, but I was wondering about ‘the cure’ Will takes after he bites de Quincey. Sophie told Tessa that he needed to drink the holy water, but he only took a few sips before pouring the rest over his head. Wouldn’t he have needed more than that? Of course, I’m assuming he didn’t drink much of what Sophie brought him since she said he threw the bucket at her head."

Sophie's been bringing him buckets of holy water the whole time Tessa was in the room with Nate. He threw one bucket at her. One assumes he consumed the rest of it, or a sufficient amount.

Brooke wrote: "i havnt read CA yet, but is it anything like mortal instruments?"

Considering that it's a prequel set in the same world with overlapping characters, it would be weird if it was nothing like it.

Hi! You are awesome for doing this.

*Spoiler for Clockwork Angel*
I’m wondering about the attic scene, when Will asks, “What was that?” Is he referring to: 1. His lack of self-control around Tessa? 2. The fact that she was so into kissing him too? 3. A different feeling, maybe something powerful he felt while kissing her, that could be somehow related to his secret – or none of the above? :D

This has been asked six or seven times so this is my official moratorium on this question! No more answering from now on.

Will's reluctance to continue kissing her has to do with his secret."What was that" definitely does not refer to her being into kissing him too. It has more to do with his own lack of self control.

Also, I’m Team Will at this point, despite his lack of, um, people skills. When developing and writing about his character, did you recognize that while there would be lots of readers who would despise him, that there would also be others who were intrigued by him and wanting to believe he could be good? Or was that not a consideration (as in you just wrote him as he was and figured people would take him or leave him?) As a reader, would you be more likely to be put off by a character like Will, or are you the type who would wonder what’s behind the mask of cruelty? And does that match up with how you would perceive someone like Will in real life?

I wrote Will as I saw Will, and I didn't think enormously about whether people would like him or not. I suspected he would have as many fans as detractors because if you're reading closely you can tell 1) he has moments of great vulnerability, and those are what endear a character to readers and 2) in the roof scene, he clearly hates hurting Tessa — he's practically ripping the railing off while he's doing it. So I did assume the people who picked up on that stuff would be intrigued, wondering what was driving him. I did also know some people would just hate him — but I also knew some people would stop reading TMI after City of Bones because they had convinced themselves that it meant the end of Clary/Jace. It's again, not a good enough reason not to write something you feel strongly about. And that will pay off big for the readers who persevere — bigger than it would have if you'd been too scared to risk it.

Erin wrote: "Will the characters from TMI eventually make an appearence in CA? (i heard CA is supposed to be about Jace and Clare's ancestors?)
"

Yeees, which means it takes place 130 years before the birth of most of the characters in TMI. Other than Magnus, no, no one from TMI shows up in ID. I don't want to introduce time travel.

1. Does Jem have a 'thing' for Tessa in the first book, or will we just have to wait and see in the upcoming books?

Jem has a pretty obvious thing for Tessa in book one.

So, ALL of the people in the Institute lost family members and came their for shelter (except for Will, he Choose to), right?

Yes.

TMI questions/ ***SPOILER***
Does Magnus ever mention Camille (former girlfriend thats mentioned in Clockwork Angel) to anyone in the TMI books?

Magnus doesn't, but others do.

2. Does Simon ever go against the people at the Institute in the upcoming books in TMI series? Since he's a vampire and all...

He's been a vampire a while and has showed no tendency to randomly hate on the Shadowhunters.

Abla wrote: "I was wondering what he means by "I have lost everything" and it says "there had been no chance to hide it" Hide what exactly>? Im sorry about this by the way. There already is a huge list of questions you have to answer and im only adding another one, but i tried and tried, I just dont get this part."

Well, think about it — what might he be trying to hide? What might he show to Tessa when he thinks she can't see it? Think about how Valentine spilled his guts to Jocelyn when he thought she couldn't hear him because she was unconscious. We often show our true faces when we think we are alone or that the person we're with can't hear us.

If you don't get it, you don't get it — you'll get it by the end of CP. :)

Talia wrote: "On average, how many shadowhunters live in an institute? And is it normal for a bunch of teens to live in the institute while an adult runs it? Like in TMI and ID, the shadowhunters are all very young. Is that normal?
"

It's normal for not a lot of Shadowhunters to live in an Institute. The reason teens live in the Institute in TMI is that they are the children of the people who run it. That's normal, for the heads of the Institute to have a family. In ID, the kids who live there are orphans. That's reflective of the times — there used to be a lot more ophanages and unwanted children in the 19th century than there are now (when we basically don't have orphanages.)

Emma (Pulvis et umbra sumus) wrote: "The runes that shadowhunters use; I've been wonderingm if they are, in fact, runes? Like the vikings wrote? Or if it's some other sort, going under the same name?"

There is already more than one runic alphabet in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_al...

Aoife wrote: "Hello Cassandra!!
Secondly (and I know this totally out of the blue) but does Will in ID have a curse on him?? I know the that Clary sometimes has dreams with reality mixed in them and I noticed that in City of Glass when she first saw Sebastian she thought he looked like her "dark ,romantic ,shadowy prince" from her ongoing graphic story (this is on page 110 - 111). I noticed the resembelance to Will and was wondering if they were somehow connected?? Anyways ,I'm probably thinking way too far ahead ,sorry!
I was also wondering if the books in MI are going to get darker and maybe funnier (your books are already hilarious). I definitely think Magnus is my favourite character ,could you maybe give me some hints on what happens between him and Alec ...... ??? "

Interesting Will theory!

Darker doesn't usually go hand in hand with funnier unless you're big on black humor. All the books contain humor as well as angst and that will continue. I do think the TMI books get pretty dark esp. the second one, Lost Souls.

I can only give the one hint about Magnus and Alec: someone from Magnus's past reappears, and causes trouble in their relationship.

Talia wrote: "Why is Simon trying to date two girls in CoFA? He didn't strike me as that type though it is amusing."

It will make sense by the end of chapter one.

Nicole wrote: "Hello Cassandra!
MY question is about the next three books of TMI.
1) I would like to know if there is going to be a love triangle between Simon, Izzy and Maia.
2) Does Maias ex-boyfriend, the one ..."

Well, at the beginning of the book, Simon is dating both girls, so you could call that a love triangle. As for Jordan, why would you want him back?