FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Here you can find the answers to many common questions about my writing, my books (including the ever-popular IS THERE GOING TO BE A MOVIE? and HOW MANY BOOKS WILL THERE BE IN THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS SERIES? to name a few.) If you’re looking for answers to questions about writing, writing advice, and/or stuff about how to get published, go here. If you are looking for information to help you with a research paper, a school project, or a careers essay, please go here before you email me.

1) Click here if you have a question about the whether there will be a Mortal Instruments movie, want to know if you can get cast in said movie, want to know how to find out news about the movie, etc.

2) Click here if you have a question about the books. Like “will there be more books in the Mortal Instruments series?” or “When will the first book of the new series be out?” or “When does City of Glass come out in paperback?”

2) Click here if you have a question about writing or reading, like “How do you get inspired?” or “Do you have book recommendations?”

3) Click here if you have a request. Like, “Will you read my story?” or “Can I get a signed book?”

QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER THERE WILL BE A MOVIE:

1) Is there going to be a Mortal Instruments movie? You should make one!

If there was a movie, who would you want to play the characters?

B) When will the movie be released?

C) Can I be in the movie? I want to play x character. Will there be auditions?

d) Is there somewhere I can go to get updates about the movies? Has there been any news since you announced the movie deal? Is there going to be more than one movie or will all three books be filmed as a single movie? Have they started casting yet? When will the movie be released?

e) Are those trailers I see on Youtube real?

a)f) Don’t you think movies ruin books?

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BOOKS:

1) What is the Mortal Instruments series about?

2) How many books are there in the Mortal Instruments series? When will City of Glass be out in paperback? Will there be a Mortal Instruments box set? What is your next book?

3) What is City of Fallen Angels about? When will it be released?

4a:) Whose point of view is City of Fallen Angels told from?

4b: Are you ever going to write a book in which Clary and Jace get married?

4c: Are you going to re-write the Mortal Instruments books from Jace’s point of view?

4d: Why is it so long before City of Fallen Angels comes out?

4e)Will there be another book in the Mortal Instruments series after City of Fallen Angels?

4f) Will Jace and Clary be in City of Fallen Angels?

4g) What gave you the idea to write City of Fallen Angels when City of Glass was supposed to be the last book in the series?

5) What are the Infernal Devices about?

5) When will the first book of The Infernal Devices, The Clockwork Angel, be out?

6) a) Where did you get the idea for the Mortal Instruments books? b) Was the whole series plotted out in advance, or did you make it up as you went along?

7) Have the Mortal Instruments books been translated into other languages?

8) Who is your favorite character from the Mortal Instruments books? Which is your favorite of the books?

9) Which characters are on the covers of the Mortal Instruments books?

10) Is that Val and Luis from Holly Black’s Valiant in that scene where Jace and Clary are going downtown with the Silent Brother?

11) I have an idea for what should happen in the fourth Mortal Instruments book/in Clockwork Angel! Can I email it to you?

12) Is there a list I can sign up for to get updates about the books, short story releases, news about the tours and signings, sneak peeks, and the like?

13) Are there fansites, fan forums, places I can post my fan-made works, meet other readers, and the like?

14) How do you pronounce Jace’s name?

15) Where do the names in the books come from?

16) What do the runes in the books look like?

17) I just finished City of Glass and I have some questions — why can Simon go in the sunlight? What’s with Jace and Clary’s matching scars? What did the Seelie Queen mean? Who will Simon choose? What will happen to Alec and Magnus?

18) In x scene in one of the books, a character was about to say something when they were cut off by another character, or something happening. What were they going to say if they’d been able to finish?

ANSWERS:

QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER THERE WILL BE A MOVIE:

1): Is there going to be a Mortal Instruments movie?/Are you going to make a Mortal Instruments movie? Have you thought about making a Mortal Instruments movie?

First, there is no writer on the planet,probably not even those folks who write books like “A Short Guide to Tugboats”, who has not thought about their book being made into a movie. However, films are not made at the whim of writers. When a movie is made from a book, it is not because the writer of that book had the idea “Boy, I’d like a movie made out of my book!”, called up Hollywood (phone number: 1-800-HOLLYWOOD) and said, “Whoever you are, please make my book into a movie!” Movies are made when someone who has the power to make a movie (not a writer — someone like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, or the head of a major studio or production company) decides that they like a particular book and want to make a movie out of it.

To quote Tamora Pierce: “Movies happen not when the author deigns to allow people to make her/his books into movies, but when movie companies or producers decide that a particular book would make a good movie.” If it were up to writers, every book would be a movie. So please don’t think that if there isn’t a movie of a book you like, it’s because the author of that book has not had the idea occur to them, or has not done the right things to make it happen.

Secondly, I, personally, am not going to make a Mortal Instruments movie, no (unless I go crazy and decide to film something in my garage starring my cats). Like the t-shirt says, writers don’t make movies. Movie studios make movies. Pretty much every single book published is sent to movie studios/production companies by film agents who represent books (mine is The Gotham Group) in the hope that the studio will choose their book to make a movie out of. The studios/production companies look at these books and pick which one/s they want to consider making into films. This process is called “optioning the rights.” There is absolutely nothing an individual writer can do to make their book get chosen faster or at all.

Thirdly, and on a more upbeat note!, the film rights to The Mortal Instruments have been optioned by Unique Features. This is a film production company set up by former founders and co-presidents of New Line Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, who oversaw the production of the Lord of the Rings movies — probably my favorite fantasy movies of all time. They’re very dedicated to fantasy and they understand it, and I definitely trust them with the story of the Mortal Instruments.

Now, a book series being optioned doesn’t mean a film is being made right now or is definitely going to be made at all — it means that the studio or production company in question is developing the books as a film project — right now they’ve nailed down financing and a screenwriter (Jessica Postigo) and are working towards the next stages in the development project. It is, however, an important step in the movie-making process, so I feel like it’s okay to be excited about it. :)

a) Who do you want to direct the movie and play the characters?

a) I try not to think about those things, because these are things I am not going to be overseeing, or even having a say in, if the movie ever gets made. Actors are chosen by the casting director for a film, not the person who wrote the source material the film was based on. :) However, I’ve been asked the “imaginary casting” question so often that I finally cracked and put up a page with some of my readers’ favorite picks for actors for the characters. (Please don’t email me and tell me you think these actors are not right for the parts. I didn’t pick them, and the page is just in fun. It means nothing!)

c) Can I be in the movie? I want to play x character.

As the lovely Ally Carter, author of the Gallagher Girls series, says on her website: “I can’t get you in the Gallagher Girls movies.  Cassie Clare can’t get you in the Mortal Instruments movies.  Rick Riordan can’t get you in the Percy Jackson movies.  And on and on.  We just can’t.”

She is right.

I have the utmost respect for the craft of acting, but please, please believe me when I say that if there ever is going to be a movie of the Mortal Instruments, I am the absolutely last person on the planet who would have any say whatsoever in casting it. Really. I have absolutely nothing to do with the casting process (which is currently not underway, anyway.) Nothing. The people who are involved with casting (producers, casting directors) don’t have to ask me who to cast and they don’t have to care whether I like the casting or not. They could make the entire movie a one-man showcase for the robot from Wall-E and there is absolutely nothing I could do about it. I could have the greatest idea ever for the casting and they wouldn’t do anything about that, either. The writer of the source material a movie is based on is far below the producer’s gardener’s poodle in getting any input about casting. So please don’t send me headshots and resumes — you’d be better of sending them to a talent agent, a casting director, or really, mailing them to the dolphins at Sea World. They have about as much input into casting a TMI movie as I do.

“So can you notify me if there are going to be auditions or tryouts?”

If — and that’s a big if — they ever make a Mortal Instruments film, I have no idea if there will  be be open auditions or casting calls. Most movies, the vast majority, don’t ever have them. That is, by and large, not how films get cast. There are the exceptions, in which there is a search for a “new face,” and that’s what gets all the buzz, but it’s not normal movie procedure. Normal movie procedure is developing a shortlist of actors who have been in other films and casting from that. If you want to be an actor/actress, hoping that a book you like will be made into a movie and that there will be open casting calls for that movie is not the smart way to go. The smart way to go is to look for a reputable talent agent to represent you and go from there.

Many people email to ask if the casting calls will be open to people outside the US. But it’s just so early on in the process that there is simply no way to know the answer to “If they actually greenlight the movie, and it goes into production, and they decide to have open auditions, do you think that those auditions will be open to people outside the US?” Its like asking “If they invent space travel, and you wind up getting a place on a rocket going to Neptune, will you like it on Neptune and decide to move there?” :)

And lastly, I also can’t email you to notify you in the future if it turns out that there are going to be auditions or open casting calls. I’m just not organized enough to remember to email so many people, and besides, I am unlikely to have any special knowledge of casting calls, or to know about it before, say, the mainstream media does. My suggestion is that you periodically check the TMI movie’s IMDB page. You’ll notice that the movie is listed as “in development.” Only when “in development” changes to “in production” will the producers start the casting process. At that point, you can investigate yourself to find out if there are going to be auditions and if so, how to find out more about them. (And then you can feel free to let me know what you find out, because otherwise I probably won’t have any idea either!)

d) Is there somewhere I can go to get updates about the movies? Has there been any news since you announced the movie deal? Is there going to be more than one movie or will all three books be filmed as one movie? Are they anywhere near starting casting?When will the movies be released?

If you want up to the minute info, you can always join one of the mailing lists. Beyond that, Variety and Entertainment Weekly online recently had some updates: Variety and EW.COM. Movie stuff moves slowly, especially at the development stage, so checking back here or at the IMDB page occasionally is all you need to do. Also, whatever you may have read online, it has not yet been decided whether they will make three separate films, or one, or two, or what. It’s just too early to know that. As for casting, that doesn’t start until a film is categorized as in production. Right now the film is still categorized as in development. You can always check the IMDB page to see if that’s changed. If it hasn’t, then they are still not casting yet. Before a movie goes into production, there is also no release date. There is no release date for the TMI movies, nor will there be until the film/s go into production.

e) Are those trailers I see on Youtube real?

No. They’re not. Fans have fun making fake “trailers” and posters for the film they hope will be made. Some even look very professional. But no, they’re not “real” in the sense you mean. “Real” trailers have information like release dates, and production information (the studio distributing the film, the film’s rating, the director. Etc.) Rule of thumb: a movie either has been, or is being, made, there will be an IMDB listing that says so. If all that exists are YouTube videos, they aren’t from a real movie.

f) But don’t you think movies ruin books?

No. I don’t believe that. As I said above, the MI books are optioned by the guys at least party responsible for movies I consider to be some of the best book-to-film adaptations of all time (the Lord of the Rings films.) I do understand what it’s like to see a film based on a book you loved and feel like the book wasn’t treated right, but there are also wonderful book-to-film adaptations out there: Let the Right One In, The Shawshank Redemption, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Last Picture Show, Psycho, Lord of the Rings. The Princess Bride. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Watership Down. The Iron Giant. Hellboy. The Shining. Carrie. Blade Runner. A Clockwork Orange. The Maltese Falcon. LA Confidential. The Hours. Atonement. Brokeback Mountain. Trainspotting. The Sweet Hereafter. Brideshead Revisited. Goodfellas. The Silence of the Lambs. A Room with a View. Movies are not a lesser art form than books; they are a different art form than books. If you don’t risk having a bad movie made out of your book, you’ll never get a good movie made out of your book, either.
(It is also worth noting that this argument is academic anyway. I no longer own the rights to make films or TV shows out of my books, or have the authority to decide whether it happens. Unique Features does. That’s what it means to sell your film/tv rights. The decision is theirs to make. It is not mine.)

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BOOKS:

1): What is the Mortal Instruments series about?

A: City of Bones is the first of three books in my young adult urban fantasy trilogy, The Mortal Instruments. City of Bones is about a fifteen-year old girl named Clary Fray, whose search for her missing mother leads her into an alternate New York called Downworld, filled with mysterious faeries, hard-partying warlocks, not-what-they-seem vampires, an army of werewolves, and the demons who want to destroy it all. She also finds herself torn between two boys — her best friend, Simon, for whom she’s developing new feelings, and the mysterious demon hunter, Jace. She becomes a part of the secret world of the demon hunters, or Nephilim, and as she does she discovers that rescuing her mother might mean putting their whole world in jeopardy. City of Bones is followed by the second book, City of Ashes, and the third, City of Glass. You can find all sorts of detailed information about these books, their plots and characters, and release dates, on my Mortal Instruments website under FAQ: http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortalfaq.html

2) How many books are there in the Mortal Instruments series? When will City of Glass be out in paperback? What is your next book?

There are going to be four books in the Mortal Instruments series: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and —coming in March, 2011 — City of Fallen Angels.

City of Glass will be out in paperback in August, 2010. [It will contain exclusive content from both The Clockwork Angel and City of Fallen Angels when it is released.]

There will be a hardback box set available October 27, 2009.

The next Shadowhunter book is called The Clockwork Angel, and it is part of a new series, called The Infernal Devices.

So for the record, here’s the publication dates for my next four books, in order:

August 31, 2010: The Clockwork Angel

March, 2011: City of Fallen Angels

September 2011: The Clockwork Princess

September 2012: The Clockwork Prince

For those still confused about The Infernal Devices, its relationship to The Mortal Instruments, and which to read first, there is a simplified explanation here.

3) What is City of Fallen Angels about? When will it be released?

City of Fallen Angels takes place after the events of City of Glass. It splits its focus between Jace and Clary and Clary’s best friend, Simon, and how he adjusts to life as a vampire, but it’s still an ensemble-cast story, and all the characters from the Mortal Instruments series appear in it: Jace, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Luke, Jocelyn, Maia, and many more. (It even helps to have read The Clockwork Angel before you read CoFA, because some of the characters from the ID series do show up in it. However, it isn’t required.) In City of Fallen Angels, someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and leaving their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters. Internecine warfare among vampires is ripping the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Meanwhile Jace and Clary investigate a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

City of Fallen Angels is set to be released in March, 2011.

4a) Whose point of view is City of Fallen Angels told from?

Like all the other books, it’s a mixed POV.

b) Are you going to write a book in which Jace and Clary get married?

I just don’t see a teenage wedding as in character for Jace and Clary, so no. No children either. For these particular characters, I do not think that would work.

c) Are you going to re-write the Mortal Instruments series from Jace’s viewpoint?

The popularity of this question is because of Midnight Sun, right? Hey, I loved what I read of Midnight Sun on Stephenie’s website, just as much as the next person! But I think one of the reasons retelling Twilight from Edward’s perspective worked so well was that in the Twilight series we’re only ever in Bella’s head — we never see what Edward is thinking. He’s something of a mystery to us, just as he is to Bella. But in the MI series we’re frequently in Jace’s head, and therefore I think a similar experiment wouldn’t work. Pivotal scenes in the books are from Jace’s viewpoint already, so they’d either have to be dumped wholesale into the new version or pointlessly rewritten, again, from the same point of view. Also, I have to say, the idea just doesn’t interest me, for whatever reason, and honestly, I do think you have to write what sparks your passion.

d) Why is it so long before City of Fallen Angels comes out? Why is it not coming out in 2010?

Because I already have a book, Clockwork Angel, (which is the prequel to the TMI books: a prequel means that it takes place in the same world, but happens before the events of City of Bones) coming out in 2010. It takes me about a year to write a book; I’m not a lightning-speed writer, and my books are very very long. That means I generally put out one book a year, and my next book is The Clockwork Angel.

“But why is the next book Clockwork Angel?”

Because I initially never intended to write any more books in the Mortal Instruments series at all. City of Glass was meant to be the last one. By the time it came out, in March 2009, I was already well into working on The Clockwork Angel, the first book in The Infernal Devices, a companion series to The Mortal Instruments. I didn’t even get the idea for writing City of Fallen Angels until the middle of 2009 (to give you an idea how of book publishing works, for City of Fallen Angels to be published at any point in 2010, I would already have had to have turned in a complete draft of it by at least June 2009.)

Often when I tell people that I planned to end the TMI series with Glass,  they are puzzled, in a sort of “Why don’t you just keep writing books about the Mortal Instruments characters forever?” kind of way. The answer to this is severalfold:

By the time I was done with City of Glass, I had lived with those characters for almost six years, constantly, every day. I needed a break. I was excited about writing The Clockwork Angel in a way I just wouldn’t have been excited about writing another Mortal Instruments book — which I had no plans to do anyway. It wasn’t until I had finished the first draft of Clockwork Angel that I was able to think about the TMI characters again, and what might happen to them after City of Glass —  and that whole thought process was sparked off by what happened in Clockwork Angel, and how it connected to the events in City of Fallen Angels. Without TCA, there would be no fourth Mortal Instruments book at all.

Secondly, to me these are not totally separate series so much as connecting parts of the same, overarching story of the Shadowhunting families of the Lightwoods, Morgensterns, Herondales, and Waylands. The correct order to read the books is in publication order — characters from The Clockwork Angel show up in Mortal Instruments 4, and it will make better sense to you if you’ve started Infernal Devices already. You don’t have to read TCA — both series are totally comprehensible on their own, and neither spoils the other — but in much the same way that reading The Magician’s Nephew is more fun if you’ve read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, reading City of Fallen Angels is more fun if you’ve read The Clockwork Angel first.

I know that starting a new series is a different experience that revisiting  characters you already know and love. But no one knew or loved Jace, Clary, Alec, Simon, Magnus and the rest before they read City of Bones, and in the same way, I confidently believe readers will come to love the characters in The Clockwork Angel just as much as the ones in the Mortal Instruments. I know that I do.

e) Will there be another book in the Mortal Instruments series after City of Fallen Angels?

Mayyyybe. We’ll see!/strong>

f) Will Jace and Clary be in City of Fallen Angels?

Having said that the book will “focus more on Simon and how he adjusts to life as a vampire” seems to have set off a flood of rumors that Clary and Jace are not in this book at all, or are only in it peripherally. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They are in City of Fallen Angels. They are in it plenty. Like the previous books, CoFA shifts through multiple character points of view, including Simon’s, Clary’s, Jace’s, Isabelle’s, and even Magnus’. You will find out what it is like for Jace and Clary to be having a relationship now, and find it out from their viewpoints. However, there is also a strong plotline for Simon in this book, in which he is more than an adjunct to the larger drama around Clary and Jace.

g) What gave you the idea to write City of Fallen Angels when City of Glass was supposed to be the last book in the series?

I had indeed initially planned not to write more Mortal Instruments books after City of Glass. Two things happened to change that: One, I had written a plot for a graphic novel about what would happen to Simon after the events of Glass. When the graphic novel didn’t work out, I was left with this storyline and nothing to do with it — it wasn’t enough for a whole book on its own. However, while I was writing the first book in The Infernal Devices, The Clockwork Angel, which deals with Jace, Clary, and the Lightwoods’ ancestors, the way events played out in it gave me the idea for a new villain and conflict that might beset the cast of characters from The Mortal Instruments, and connect up to the plotline from the planned graphic novel. I’ve always liked stories where the distant past comes forward to affect the future, so, without being spoilery, when I realized I could connect the events of Infernal Devices to the few loose ends left at the end of Glass, I realized I wouldn’t want to pass up writing that story, especially considering how much chaos I knew it would bring to the lives of Jace, Clary, Simon, Alec, Magnus, Isabelle and the rest!

5) What are the Infernal Devices about? What is Clockwork Angel about? When does it come out?

The Infernal Devices are a trilogy of prequels to the Mortal Instruments books, set almost 130 years ago. They deal with the adventures of a Downworlder girl named Tessa in a Victorian London where the Accords have only just been finalized and tensions between Shadowhunters and Downworlders are running high. It’s a romantic adventure centering around the Lightwood, Herondale, Wayland, and other Shadowhunter families you’ll know well from Instruments; Magnus Bane appears in them, and I generally recommend you read Clockwork Angel before City of Fallen Angels, as the characters from one series connect to the characters in the next (though, as it says here, neither series spoils the other.). You can find out more at: http://www.theinfernaldevices.com/infernalfaq

Jacket copy: “When 16-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld,where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by — and torn between — two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world… and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.”

There are three books in the Devices series. The first is The Clockwork Angel, the second, The Clockwork Prince, the third, The Clockwork Princess.

For those still confused about The Infernal Devices, its relationship to The Mortal Instruments, and which to read first, there is a simplified explanation here.

5) When will The Clockwork Angel come out?

It will be released worldwide in English (in the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand) onAugust 31, 2010.

6) Where did you get the idea for the Mortal Instruments books?

The idea for the Mortal Instruments came to me one afternoon in the East Village. I was with a good friend of mine, who was taking me to see the tattoo shop where she used to work. She wanted to show me that her footprints were on the ceiling in black paint — in fact the footprints of everyone who’d worked there were on the ceiling, crisscrossing each other and making patterns. To me it looked like some fabulous supernatural battle had been fought there by beings who’d left their footprints behind. I started thinking about a magical battle in a New York tattoo shop and the idea of a secret society of demon-hunters whose magic was based on an elaborate system of tattooed runes just sprang into my mind. When I sat down to sketch out the book, I wanted to write something that would combine elements of traditional high fantasy — an epic battle between good and evil, terrible monsters, brave heroes, enchanted swords — and recast it through a modern, urban lens. So you have the Shadowhunters, who are these very classic warriors following their millennia-old traditions, but in these urban, modern spaces: skyscrapers, warehouses, abandoned hotels, rock concerts. In fairy tales, it was the dark and mysterious forest outside the town that held the magic and danger. I wanted to create a world where the city has become the forest — where these urban spaces hold their own enchantments, danger, mysteries and strange beauty. It’s just that only the Shadowhunters can see them as they really are.

b) Was the whole series planned out in advance, or did you make it up as you went along?

I always had the story plotted out from the beginning. I sold the series as a trilogy. That means I had to submit a detailed outline to the publisher of each book in the series. Your publisher wants to know not just that you know how to start a story but also that you know how to end one, and that nothing too crazy happens. So I had the story plotted out, because it was required. I also always knew it would be a trilogy. It is structured on the hero’s journey to the Underworld — the theme of the first book is descent, thus each epigraph makes reference to descent (“The Descent Beckons”, etc.). The theme of the second is hell or the underworld, and all the epigraphs make reference to hell or the underworld (“the Gates of Hell”). The third book’s theme is ascent or heaven, and all the epigraphs make reference to ascent or heaven (“The Road to Heaven”.).

7) Have the Mortal Instruments books been translated into other languages?

Yes. The Mortal Instruments trilogy has been sold in Italy, Germany, France, Spain and South America (though distribition varies country to country — please email me if you’re in a South American country and want to know if the books will be available where you live) , Israel, Bulgaria, Poland, Brazil, Portugal, Finland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Turkey, Indonesia, Russia, Hungary, Greece, and Denmark. You can find a list of all the countries the books are available in and who publishes them there, plus see some of the foreign editions with their covers here.

8) Who is your favorite character from the Mortal Instruments books? Which is your favorite of the books?

It doesn’t work that way, at least not for me. There are things I love about almost all the characters — I suppose I do feel a greater sense of connection to more significant characters like Isabelle than I do to Kaelie the waitress — but I don’t like Alec better than Isabelle or Magnus better than Simon. I even love Valentine and the Inquisitor. Of all the characters, Simon is probably the one who is the most like me.

I don’t have a favorite of the books, either. Each one had things about it that were enjoyable and also painful to write.

9) Which characters are on the covers of the Mortal Instruments books?

City of Bones: Jace

City of Ashes: Clary

City of Glass: Sebastian (and in answer to the oft-asked question: Why does he have wings? click here as the answer is spoilery.)

City of Fallen Angels: Don’t know yet!

10) Is that Val and Luis from Holly Black’s Valiant in that scene in City of Bones where Jace and Clary are going downtown with the Silent Brother?

Yes, it is. Holly and I are friends; I helped her edit Valiant and she helped me edit City of Bones. That’s why we thank each other in our acknowledgements sections. We often joked that our words are connected and overlap; look for a mention of Jace in Holly’s upcoming book, The White Cat.

10) I have an idea for what should happen in the fourth Mortal Instruments book/in Clockwork Angel! Can I email it to you?

Please don’t. In fact, don’t do this to any writer — not only is it (unintentionally, I know) insulting to imply that the author you’re writing to can’t generate their own ideas, it will just about absolutely ensure that you will never see that plotline you like in any book they write. Writers want to avoid even the appearance that they have intentionally used someone else’s idea in their work, so telling your favorite writer that you want “x” to happen in their next book is the way to make sure that if they were already planning to include “x” in their next book, they will now delete it.

12) Is there a list I can sign up for to get updates about the books, short story releases, news about the tours and signings, sneak peeks, and the like?
Yes, there are two mailing lists I run. Both are Google Groups. One is called Mortal Instruments:

http://groups.google.com/group/Mortal_Instruments

and is a discussion group for the books. That means I post on it often — outtakes from past books, news about tours and appearances, sneak peeks at the next books, short story excerpts, and so forth. It also means that there are other readers on the list discussing the books. It’s a great way to meet other readers.

Subscribe to Mortal_Instruments

Email:

Visit this group

For those who don’t want to get email that often, I also run a group just called Cassandra Clare:

http://groups.google.com/group/Cassandra_Clare

Here I post about once a month with news about upcoming signings and appearances, release dates, and any significant news (new book, movie deal.) The list is not for discussion or excerpts and is very low volume. It not a way to meet people, but it’s good for occasional news.

Subscribe to Cassandra_Clare

Email:

Visit this group

13) Are there fansites, fan forums, places I can post my fan-made works, meet other readers, and the like?

Yes. You can find a limited list of them here For a truly exhaustive list of fansites, fan-run forums, discussion sites, and anything else fan-related in the online Mortal Instruments world, visit Mundie Source.

14) How do you pronounce Jace’s name?

Rhymes with lace. All the characters in the books have names that are real names, not made up. You can find the pronunciations by googling “jace name pronunciation’ and the like.

15) Where do the names in the books come from?

Where do the names in the books come from?

The names in my books come from all over the place. Sometimes they can take a long time to develop. Clary Fray is named after two friends of mine. Her name was originally Valerie Frayre (after the artist who does some of the character art on the artwork page), then Valerie Frayne, then (when a friend of mine was also writing a book with a heroine named Valerie) Clary Frayne, then Clary Fray (my editor’s choice) — then when I realized Clary was a nickname, she became Clarice, and finally, Clarissa. (She’s not named after me. She is named after my friend Valerie Frayre, and my friend Clary.) Jace was originally Will, but Jace is a name I always liked, and it needed to be something that could be short for Jonathan (and now Will shows up in Clockwork Angel instead). Max and Isabelle are named for my grandparents. Alec’s name was originally Alex, but Alec is a more interesting version of Alexander, I think. Simon and Maia are named after friends of mine, while Maryse, Robert, Jocelyn and others are simply names I picked out of baby name books and the like. (Luke Garroway I picked because it sounded a bit like loup-garou, which is French for werewolf.)

The names of the angels and seraph blades: Ithuriel, Raziel, Israfiel, etc. come from sources of angel mythology. Paradise Lost, the Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, the Enochian magic system, and so forth. They are all, as far as I know, sourceable to specific mythologies. I did not make any of them up, nor did I make up any of the names of the demons, which come from sources of demon mythology like the Lesser Key of Solomon and, of course, the Bible.

16) What do the runes in the books look like?

They are made up — not based on any specific pre-existing runic language. I think they should look like whatever you imagine them to look like. I did hire an artist, Valerie Fraire (yes, the one I originally named Clary after!) to design a set of the runes for me:

You can find a larger version of them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24718679@N03/2660746413/sizes/o/

17) I just finished City of Glass and I have some questions — why can Simon go in the sunlight? What’s with Jace and Clary’s matching scars? What did the Seelie Queen mean?

I try to keep spoilers off the site, so go here:
http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/30367.html#cutid1

18) In x scene in one of the books, a character was about to say something when they were cut off by another character, or something happening. What were they going to say if they’d been able to finish?

Yeah, I do that a lot! The answer is: there is no answer. Having characters begin to speak but not finish what they were going to say creates what I think of as a space in the book for the reader to fill in what they think the character was going to say. Just saying what it was destroys that space (and frankly, while I usually know what they were going to talk about, I don’t usually even know what they were going to say. Because they never said it.)

QUESTIONS ABOUT WRITING AND READING:

1) Are Clary, Jace, Simon etc. based on people that you know? Are the places in the books real?

2) Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to want to be a writer?

3) Do you have book recommendations?

5) How do you get inspired to write/stay inspired to finish a book? Do you have a writing routine? A place where you write, or a certain amount of time you write per day?

6) Did you take any specific classes to become a writer?

7) What kind of research did you do about the angels, demons and mythical creatures in the Shadowhunter books?

8) What kind of music do you like? Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

9) Are you part of a writing group or critique group? Do you recommend writing groups?

>10) Why teen books?

11) Would you ever write books for adults?

12) Do the various religious references in the books reflect your own religious views?

13) How did you find an agent/editor/publisher?

14) Do you know where the story is going when you sit down to write it? Do you outline?

15) I found a typo in one of your books!

ANSWERS:

1) Are Clary, Jace, Simon etc. based on people that you know? Are the places in the books real?

Sometimes minor characters are based on people I know — Simon’s friends Eric, Kirk and Matt are all friends of mine. But I’m not writing a thinly veiled version of my own life. These characters are created to fit the needs of the story and to be very much themselves. Sometimes they incorporate aspects of people I know, or have met, like Simon’s sense of humor or Clary’s artistry. Jace, alas, is definitely not based on anyone real.

As for the places in the books, obviously Idris and environs are entirely made up. Most of the Manhattan locations — the Pandemonium Club, the Institute, Garroway’s Books, The Dumont Hotel,Taki’s, are in real places, but don’t actually exist there. The Marble Cemetary (the City of Bones) does exist in some form http://www.marblecemetery.org/ , and the Renwick Smallpox Hospital is a real place.

2) Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

This questions fascinates me because people ask writers this all the time and I’m not sure why. (Google “Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?” and you get 3,000 hits, all interviews with writers.) I think there’s a sense that there comes a moment when you know you are a writer, that it’s something you’re destined to do. Or maybe there’s just a feeling that there could be an interesting story in it. Though there really isn’t for me.

I always loved writing. And reading. Most people who love to write, start with a love of reading. I started writing books when I was about 12. They were all terrible and all in different genres. I wrote a terrible vampire novel and a terrible mystery novel and a terrible romance novel and a terrible Arthurian novel. Then I went to college and I took some writing classes, and I didn’t really enjoy them all that much, and I figured maybe I didn’t want to be a fiction writer. After college I worked as a journalist and I also worked part-time in a children’s bookstore. It was working in the children’s bookstore and starting to re-read the books I’d read when I was a kid that rekindled my desire to write. I started writing again, and went through several different novel ideas before I moved to New York City from Los Angeles, which is what inspired the idea of setting a book in New York and its environs. From that, City of Bones developed. It was the first book I ever sold to a publisher.

At no point during that process do I remember thinking that I had realized I was, or had decided to be, a writer. I liked writing, it was something I always enjoyed, and it seemed logical to try to make a living at it.

3) Do you have book recommendations?

I have millions and millions of books that I love. They’re all over my house, getting underfoot, stacking up in piles. There is no way I could recommend them all. I have gathered a list of some recommendations for current Young Adult fiction, with an emphasis on Urban Fantasy, here, because I had to narrow it down. You can also find some great recommendations on my friend Holly Black’s page.

4) How do you get inspired to write/stay inspired to finish a book? Do you have a writing routine? A place where you write, or a certain amount of time you write per day?

I believe in inspiration, but I don’t believe it’s that important. People are inspired all the time — by a book, a movie, a snatch of a song, a sunset, an image, whatever. Most of those moments of inspiration never add up to anything beyond a pleasant moment. Inspiration has to be noted, then expanded on and shaped and turned into something interesting or important through lots of hard work — developing a learned set of skills, and applying them, and not expecting it to be easy. To quote Picasso, “Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.” My much longer essay on this topic, and on the topic of not giving up on your book in the middle, is here.

As for where I write, I have a little office, just big enough to turn around in. One wall is books, the other is my computer, and I keep fan letters and fan art of the characters pinned to the other for encouragement. That’s if I’m writing at home. Usually I write in coffee shops with friends.

5) Did you take any specific classes to become a writer?

I took some writing classes in college. I majored in English, but a lot of writers don’t. Some major in creative writing, psychology, philosophy, or even math. There are no school or educational requirements for becoming a writer, though you can always choose to take classes if you want to. Mostly what I did that was significant was read a great deal. Stephen King in ON WRITING says to read over 70-80 books a year. That’s a book about every for days. Sounds about right.

A more detailed explanation here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/so-you-want-to-be-a-write_b_74719.html

6) What kind of research did you do about the angels, demons and mythical creatures in the Shadowhunter books?

I wanted to make sure the mythology of the series was rooted in world mythology — not just Western religious mythology, though there is a lot of that, given the books’ partial basing on Paradise Lost and The Inferno — so I did a lot of reading up on world mythology, especially anything having to do with good and evil spirits. I wanted to make sure multiple types of demonic myth were present, so you’ll find Japanese, Indian, Tibetan, and other kinds of demons represented (plus the kind I’ve made up.) I read a lot of old “demonologies” — there was a whole time period where scholars were obsessed with listing every kind of demon and mapping Hell. I read up on the mythology of angels and fallen angels. Raziel, for instance, is an angel from the Jewish kabbalistic tradition, who is supposed to have given Adam, in the Garden of Eden, a book of wisdom — he is sometimes called the Angel of Secrets, or Angel of Knowledge. Therefore he seemed the right angel to have given the Gray Book to the first Shadowhunter. Nephilim in mythology are the “offspring” of men an angels, so that’s obviously a myth I adapted a little more freely to make it serve my purposes. And so forth.

7) What kind of music do you like? Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

I always listen to music when I’m writing. In fact I made an iMix of the songs I was listening to when I wrote City of Bones. You can find it here. (NB: link only works for North Americans Otherwise click here to read title and artist lists).

8) Are you part of a writing group or critique group? Do you recommend writing groups?

A: I’m part of a writing group that was originally called The Massachusetts All-Stars because most of us were in Massachusetts. Half of us have since moved to New York, but the name remains. You’ll always see them thanked in my acknowledgements, because their feedback is priceless to me. I definitely recommend critique groups, just make sure you’re all on the same page and compatible.

>9) Why teen books?

Why not teen books? More seriously, when I started out writing City of Bones, I didn’t think of it as young adult, just as a fantasy novel. The characters simply happened to be teenagers. At some point I was approached by a publisher who was interested in the book, but they wanted me to “age up the characters” and make them adults. I toyed with the idea for a while, but I knew it wouldn’t work. I wanted to tell a story about characters at that crucial life stage just between adolescence and adulthood, where your choices determine the kind of person you’re going to be rather than reflecting who you already are.

11) Would you ever write books for adults?

Someday, I suspect, the bottom will fall out of the teen book market and I’ll have to find something else to do. :)

12) Do the various religious references in the books reflect your own religious views?

Sorry, guys. My religious views are personal.

13) How did you find an agent/editor/publisher?

I met my agent (Barry Goldblatt) because he represented a friend of mine, and she introduced us, and told him I was writing a book that so far she was enjoying — that was City of Bones. He gave me his card, and I queried him, and he took me on as a client in early 2004. He helped me shape and polish the book for submission, and then we submitted it in late 2004, and Simon and Schuster offered on it and bought it in early 2005. So from finding an agent to landing a book deal took about a year. Then another two years for the book to be published. Publishing is slow!

14) Do you know where the story is going when you sit down to write it? Do you outline?

Yes, I know where the story/book/series is going when I sit down to write it. Yes, I outline. That doesn’t mean this is the right way to do things — it’s just what works for me. Some people sit down and just wing it; I can’t do that. There’s advice about how to outline a book on my ‘writing resources’ page.

15) I found a typo in one of your books!

Typos happen. I make errors all the time, but small typographical stuff — letters out of place, commas messed up – are usually production errors. There isn’t anything I personally can do about typos, so if you find one in one of my American or Canadian books, use this page to report it.

QUESTIONS ABOUT REQUESTS:

1) Will you read my story/book/poem?

2) I’m a reader who wants you to come and read/sign in my town/city/state! Will you? (Or alternately: Are you ever going to tour/sign in Australia, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, the UK, and/or any other not-the-USA location?)

3) I’m a teacher/librarian/bookseller who would love to have you come and read/speak at our school/library/store. What do I do?

4) I’d like an autograph or signed book for myself or for a gift.

5) Can you send me a signed copy of one of your books for my charity/convention/school?

6) I am a writer. Can you read my book and blurb it?

7) I’m a student who needs an interview for a class project/ a report/ my high school newspaper/ a paper on your books/ a careers project/ any school project. Can I send you a list of questions?

ANSWERS:

1) Will you read my story/book/poem?

Sorry, but for legal reasons, not to mention time constraint reasons, I can’t. Please don’t send it to me. (That includes synopses of your story/book/poem, or detailed descriptions of the plot and characters.) If you want more explanation as to why, read this. I know it can be frustrating when you feel like no one will read your writing, so there are places online I recommend where you can get critiques. www.critters.org for adults and teens, and www.inkpop.com for teens, specifically.

2) I’m a reader who wants you to come and read/sign in my town/city/state! Will you? (Or alternately: Are you ever going to tour/sign in Australia, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, the UK, and/or any other not-the-USA location?

First, If you want to know where I’ll be signing, check the signings link on the site. That’ll tell you what cities/countries I’m visiting. If it’s not listed, I’m not going there, at least not any time soon.

Secondly, I really enjoy doing signings — meeting readers is one of the best parts of my job — and I make every effort to make myself available to do them. The thing is: writers do not generally choose where they go on tour. Tours are set up by publishers, not writers. [This is especially true when it comes to foreign countries. (If I wanted to tour Spain, for instance, I wouldn't know where to start — I don't speak Spanish, I wouldn't know where bookstores are, what bookstores might want to have me, wouldn't be able to provide myself a translator, wouldn't be able to set up media and travel. Publishers do all that.) Therefore, in order to tour Spain (just as an example) I would need my publisher to invite me, and to set all that up.

Not to say that this means touring overseas is impossible. I just finished a tour of Germany in November (organized by my German publisher) and my Australian publisher is planning a tour for me there in April, 2011. It just means that if you want me to come sign in your country, your best move is to contact my publisher there (a list of my foreign publishers is available here) and bug them to make it happen.]

As for domestic tour locations, I do generally tour in the US at least once a year. Again, those tours are organized by my publisher — they find out which book shops/libraries/schools are interested in having me appear. They make sure the store has enough stock (books) on hand. They fly me around the country. They have the contacts and organization to make it work and I do not. So while I appreciate getting emails saying “Can you come to Colorado/Las Vegas/Tennessee?” — unfortunately the answer is: I would pretty much love to go EVERYWHERE, but my publisher is the one who organizes tour locations so again, they’re the ones to bug. Also again, the only tour signings I’m aware of are the ones on the signing page. If it’s not on the signing page, it doesn’t mean I’m not going, it just means I don’t know yet. The moment I do know, I put that info on the page. So if “Georgia” isn’t on the signings page, it’s absolutely definite that my only answer to the question “Are you going to sign in Georgia ever?” is gonna be “I don’t know.”

3) I’m a teacher/librarian/bookseller who would love to have you come and read/speak at our school/library/store. What do I do?

Information about school and library visits can be found at the “teachers and librarians” section of the website.

4) I’d like a signed book for myself or for a gift.

I wish I could accept books to sign and return — I used to, but came to the realization I was spending 4-5 hours a day dealing with snail mail requests and signed books, and that it was actually starting to prevent me from writing. So I made an arrangement withBooks of Wonder, an independent New York City bookstore — I make sure they always have signed copies of my books on hand, and you can order any or all of the books by going here (that link is for the signed City of Bones, but they have all three) or by calling the store at (212) 989-3270. You can also discuss personalization, bulk orders, etc. with them.

I do get requests for “autographs” sometimes, but autographs aren”t really something writers do. That’s why signed books are meant to be something special. Scrawling a signature on a piece of paper feels silly in a “Why would anyone want that?” way, and again, it’s a matter of time and the cost of postage, both of which prohibit me from being able to send out signatures.

5) Can you send me a signed copy of one of your books for my charity/convention/school?

I wish that I could. Unfortunately, the idea that writers have hundreds of boxes of their own books lying around is inaccurate. I get ten free copies of each book from my publisher. That’s it. I want any more, I have to buy them. So be aware that what you’re asking is for me to buy a copy of my own book and ship it to you for a total cost of at least $20 bucks. That might not seem like that much, but multiply it by lots of requests and it really adds up. That doesn’t mean I want you to send me money to cover it, either: I don’t want the money, and it’s legally complicated for me to even *sell* copies of my own book directly: I’m not supposed to. I also don’t want you mailing me books to sign and send back: I did that for a while, but the books piled up at my post office box every time I went out of town, and the box guys started mailing them all back to the people who’d sent them, which worked out poorly for everyone. This is all a long way of saying that I can’t really send out signed copies of my books, but I can send signed bookplates, which you can paste into copies of the books, and then voila, signed book. So if you need a signed book for a convention or school or charity, contact me and we’ll arrange for you to get bookplates.

6) I am a writer. Can you read my book and blurb it?

All blurb request must go through my agent, Barry Goldblatt Literary. www.bgliterary.com

7) I’m a student who needs an interview for a class project/ a report/ my high school newspaper/ a paper on your books/ a careers project/ any school project. Can I send you a list of questions?

I’m sorry, but no. I understand that many high school career projects, business classes, and school newspapers ask you to send questionnaires to writers asking them about their writing, and about writing as a career, but I get so many of these every day that if I sa down and answered them all, that’s all I would ever do. I have a page with the most common questions and answers that appear on these questionnaires here: questionnaires page and you are welcome to use them to enhance your project.