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?, HOW MANY BOOKS WILL THERE BE IN THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS SERIES and WHEN IS THE NEXT BOOK OUT?, WHERE CAN I GO TO FIND TEASERS AND OUTTAKES FROM THE BOOKS? 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.
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!
2) If there was a movie, who would you want to play the characters?
3) When will the movie be released?
4) Can I be in the movie? I want to play x character. Will there be auditions?
5) Who has been cast in the movie?(Also known as: “I don’t like the cast of the movie!” or “I would like to tell you who I think should be cast in the movie!”)
6) 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? When will the movie be released?
7) Are those trailers I see on Youtube real?
8) 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? What about City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire?
4b: Are you going to write more Shadowhunter books after TMI and ID?
4c: Are you going to re-write the Mortal Instruments books from Jace’s point of view?
4d: Do you plan on writing any more books on Shadowhunters other than TMI & ID series? What will you write next?
4e)What happens in City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire?
4f) Why so long before City of Lost Souls comes out?
4g) What gave you the idea to write City of Fallen Angels/Lost Souls/Heavenly Fire when City of Glass was supposed to be the last book in the series?
4h) Is there a place I can find teasers and/or cookies for upcoming books?
4h2) What about special outtake scenes or extra content?
4i) Will you ever write a prologue novel about Valentine and the Circle and the Uprising?
5) I already own the hardback but want the special content that comes in the paperback version of a book (“Magnus’ Vow”, etc), what can I do?
6) a) Where did you get the idea for the Mortal Instruments books?
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 and Infernal Devices books? What is the meaning of the titles?
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 (like fanfiction, fanart, and fanvids), meet other readers, and the like?
14) How do you pronounce the words in the books, like Idris and Alicante and Maryse and stele? 14b) 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?
17a) What did Jace say to Sebastian in Romanian in City of Glass?
17 b) I have heard Tessa appears in City of Glass. Where is the scene where I can find her? And will she appear in future TMI books?
17c) Is Church the cat immortal or are all Institute cats named Church?
17d) When do warlocks stop aging? Who is Magnus’ demon father?
17e) Can parabatai only be two boys and if not, why doesn’t Isabelle have one?
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?
19) Can I read The Infernal Devices without reading The Mortal Instruments first? Does it matter which order I read the series in?
20) I heard there are going to be graphic novels of the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series. Is that true?
21) What is the time span for the TMI books? How much time do they cover?
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, you can usually find the very latest about developments in the City of Bones movie on my blog. Right now the big news is that Lily Collins has been cast as Clary and Jamie Campbell-Bower has been cast as Jace.
The film rights to The Mortal Instruments were optioned by Unique Features, the 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, back in 2009. Screen Gems, an arm of Sony Pictures, then teamed with Constantin Films to produce and film the actual movie.
Right now this is all proceeding under the option clause, meaning that the film has not yet been “greenlit” — Hollywoodese for “they are not yet filming it.” What they are doing is developing the books as a film project — right now they’ve nailed down a director (Scott Charles Stewart), a screenwriter (Jessica Postigo) and the first two of the major cast members, Clary (Lily Collins) and Jace (Jamie Campbell-Bower.) Screen Gems has been very good about including me in the process and I am optimistic.
Important things to know about movies:
When I say that Screen Gems has been good about including me in the project, I mean they have been good about asking my opinion about things. However, here are things I am not in charge of/have no control over/do not know about:
1) Whether the film gets made
2) Whether there will be auditions
3) Who they will cast and when they will cast them
4) Where they will shoot
5) The soundtrack
6) The screenplay
7) The weather in Bulgaria.
This is not unusual; it is standard. To quote Ally Carter: “…script approval is laughable for someone like me. With VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS–no author is ever going to be involved in casting.” Emailing me will not get you a part in the film, or any information sooner than the public gets it — anything that I know and am allowed to say is on this webpage. I’m sorry, I cannot give you any contact information for the people working on the film. That would be an invasion of their privacy.
2) Who do do you want to play the characters?
a) I try not to think about those things, because actors are chosen by the casting director for a film, not the person who wrote the source material the film was based on. Sometimes people write to me and offer to help me “cast” the film. That’s very nice, but you might as well write to me and offer to help me conduct the Berlin Philharmonic. I don’t have anything to do with casting, and it would be way out of my area of expertise to even pretend I did. 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. You can find the “imaginary casting” page for the Infernal Devices here.
3) 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. 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.
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.
4) So how do I know when they have starting casting/auditions?
My suggestion is that you periodically check the TMI movie’s IMDB page. Often when there are open auditions that information is listed on the boards there.
5) Who has been cast in the Mortal Instruments movie? (Also known as: “I don’t like the cast of the movie!” or “I would like to tell you who I think should be cast in the movie!”)
Lily Collins has been cast as Clary. Jamie Campbell-Bower has been cast as Jace. No other cast members have been cast. That’s all the information I have. I have no information about specific actors and whether they will or will not be in the movie or when the rest of the characters will be cast.
Please do not email me to tell me that you do not like either of the actors chosen, or to tell me who you would like to see cast. I know it may seem difficult to believe, but the author of the source material a movie is based on does not, except in very rare circumstances of which this is not one, have a say in casting. Let me say it again:
I do not have input into casting.
I do not choose the actors.
There is nothing whatsoever I can do to affect casting. NOTHING.
And, lastly, I am very happy with casting so far, so if you’re emailing to complain you’re not even going to find a sympathetic ear (in fact, you’ll just get sent right here). There are all sorts of forums online where you can go to discuss casting and movies; those are where you should be, and you can rejoice or vent or whatever you want there!
6) 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? When will the movies be released?
If you want up to the minute info, you can always check the site http://tmisource.com/ which does a good job of keeping up to date on developments, or you can join one of the mailing lists. As for casting, Lily Collins, who starred in The Blind Side, is attached to play Clary and Jamie-Campbell-Bower, of Camelot, is attached to play Jace. However, the film is still in development — a film is not definitely going to be made until it is categorized as in production. You can always check the IMDB page for TMI to see if that’s changed. 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. As for whether there will be three separate films or one film, there will be three – or more -separate films, one for each book.
Any news about the movie is on this page. That includes news about when there will be news about the movie.
7) 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. THERE IS CURRENTLY NO OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR THE CoB MOVIE.
8) But don’t you think movies ruin books?
First, perhaps reading this helpful post from Ashley over at Mundie Source will calm you:
http://mundiesource.net/wpd/2010/10/06/massive-filmmaking-post/
Okay, second: No, I don’t believe that movies “ruin books”. 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. Screem Gems/Sony does. That’s what it means to sell your film/tv rights. The decision is theirs to make. It is not mine. Asking me to reconsider making a movie is like asking me to redecorate a house I sold to someone else.)****
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 Fallen Angels be out in paperback? What is your next book?
There are going to be six books in the Mortal Instruments series. City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass are the first three. Coming May 8, 2012, is the fifth book, City of Lost Souls. The entire series will wrap up with City of Heavenly Fire (no release date yet). To read more about why I decided to write CoFA, CoLS and CoHF go here.
The Infernal Devices and the Mortal Instruments series are going to alternate in their publication dates — one ID book, then one TMI book, then one ID book, and so forth! Because the stories overlap and intertwine, it should be fun to read them in publication order — though if you choose not to, that will not affect your comprehension of either series. They complement each other, but each stands alone as a separate story.So for the record, here’s the first publication dates for the next six books, in order (THESE ARE WORLD ENGLISH RELEASE DATES FOR THE UK/USA/CANADA/IRELAND/NZ/AUSTRALIA/SOUTH AFRICA/ETC):
December 6, 2011: The Clockwork Prince
May 8, 2012: City of Lost Souls
Clockwork Princess: NO SET RELEASE DATE
City of Heavenly Fire: NO SET RELEASE DATE
A more detailed publication schedule, comprising paperback and box set release dates along with hardcover publication, can be found here. Remember that any date that isn’t exact — i.e. is just a month or season — is tentative.
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 about eight weeks after the events of City of Glass. It continues the story begun in City of Bones, while also starting a new story, with new challenges and a new enemy to beset our protagonists. All the core characters from the Mortal Instruments series appear in it: Jace, Isabelle, Clary, Simon, 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.) City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing 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. April 5, 2011.
4a) Whose point of view is City of Fallen Angels told from? What about City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire?
City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and City of Heavenly Fire are all told from mixed third-person viewpoints. That means some scenes are told from Clary’s point of view, some from Jace’s, some from Simon’s, etc. Much like City of Glass. None of the books are told from only one point of view. None of the books are told from Simon’s point of view only, no matter what you may have heard. They are all mixed point of of view.
b) Are you going to write more Shadowhunter books after TMI and ID?
Well, one of the things I love about the Shadowhunter world is that it’s so flexible. I’ve written about two of my favorite cities, New York and London. I’d love to write about my hometown, Los Angeles. It’s a much younger city and I’d love to bring in a modern, sunlit noir feel to a Shadowhunter tale. But then again, I’m also full of ideas that aren’t about Shadowhunters – I’d love to write for younger kids someday, and I would also love to write a contemporary novel without any magic in it. Right now I’m really excited to finish up the Clockwork series with Clockwork Princess, so we’ll see!
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 already from Jace’s viewpoint, so they’d either have to be dumped wholesale into the new version or pointlessly rewritten, again, for no real reason. Besides – wouldn’t you rather have more new story than a previous book from a different viewpoint?
d) Do you plan on writing any more books about Shadowhunters other than the TMI & ID series? What do you plan to write next?
I have a plan for another Shadowhunter trilogy (contemporary, but not about the characters from TMI) but I don’t know if it will be the *next* thing I write after TMI is done. Working title: The Dark Artifices. I have many other idea for other books that do not take place in the Shadowhunter world, including an epic fantasy series and a contemporary updated Jane Austen comedy. It just is a matter of what I write first.
e) What happens in City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire?
The next two books of the TMI series will also be embargoed (no advance copies before publication), so I am limited in what I can say. City of Lost Souls begins a few weeks after the end of City of Fallen Angels, with the characters dealing from the fallout of the last events of CoFA. The whole second trilogy is outlined and the plot completed; the books are about the further adventures of Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus et. al, and the scale of the challenges they face in these last books is even greater than those they faced in the first. Angels, demons, a war that determines the destruction or salvation of the entire world, and not everyone will survive…to read a few more details about the books, you can check out the original press release here.
f) Why so long before City of Lost Souls comes out?
I always find this question so odd! City of Lost Souls will come out in May, 2012, a year after City of Fallen Angels. A year between books in a series is what is known as “the industry standard” : i.e. completely normal. There was a year between each Hunger Games book, a year between each Twilight Saga book, a year between Percy Jackson books. It’s just how publishing does things. Carrie Ryan helpfully outlines in a post here exactly what’s going on behind the scenes while you’re waiting for a new book in a series.
g) How did you go from having decided to write the Mortal Instruments as a trilogy, to deciding that it would be four books and then six?
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST THREE BOOKS AHEAD.
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, which is why I left so many threads untied at the end of City of Glass (where was Sebastian’s body, what would happen with Simon’s love life, the Seelie Queen’s threat, etc). 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, 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!
Then, in October of last year, I sat down to start writing the story of City of Fallen Angels. I had a detailed outline based in part on the graphic novel idea I had had, but when it came to expanding the outline and writing the story, it just wasn’t working for me. I was on a writing retreat in Mexico with a number of other writers, and when we sat down to go over the issues I was having, I realized that the story I had thought I was telling was really a much bigger story — that my smaller, Simon-centric story had morphed into something much bigger, much more epic, and deeply involving the whole cast of characters from the first three Mortal Instruments books. I realized that what I had on my hands was not a single book that would wrap up the story begun in The Mortal Instruments, but rather the beginning of a new trilogy about these characters. (The fun part was calling my agent and editor to explain “You know that one book I was going to write? Well, actually, it’s three books!” I like to think I could hear heads hitting desks all through Simon and Schuster. But when I submitted the outlines for the new Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and City of Heavenly Fire, they were thrilled with the idea of the new trilogy — and I hope readers will be as well!
h) Is there a place I can find teasers and/or excerpts for upcoming books?
City of Lost Souls is an embargoed book — that means there will be no advance reader copies, and that it will have a strict on sale date in May, 2012 (meaning no copies are to be sold before a specific release date — that’s not the norm for books, but it does happen sometimes.) This is to preserve secrecy about the twists that occur in the book! Clockwork Prince, due out December 6, is not embargoed, though there will be a limited number of ARCs. Every month on Twitter I try to share a sentence or paragraph from one or the other books. You can find them collected here.
4h2) What about special outtake scenes or extra content?
As of now there are six short pieces that qualify:
Because it is Bitter: The Seelie Court scene from City of Ashes told from Jace’s point of view.
Kissed: Magnus and Alec’s first kiss.
Jocelyn’s story: The story of Jocelyn’s marriage to Valentine, from her point of view.
Of Loss: Will Herondale’s perspective on the attic scene from Clockwork Angel.
4i) Will you ever write a prologue novel about Valentine and the Circle and the Uprising?
I get this question often. I think it’s an interesting idea, but right now I’m in the middle of writing three new Shadowhunter books — City of Lost Souls, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess — and I can’t even imagine when I’ll have the free time to think about a new Shadowhunter project. There are also some difficulties inherent in the idea, such as the fact that the interesting things that happened to Luke, Jocelyn and Valentine that people want to read about happened to them when they were adults. There is very little you can’t do in the YA genre — it’s one of the reasons I love it — but one thing you can’t do is a write a book for teenagers that’s about adults. At that point, it no longer really belongs in the teen section, but neither would such a book belong in the adult section, where the only adults interested in reading it would be those who had previously read my young adult books. You see the problem — though it is one of marketing, not creativity, I do have to take these things into account. Add that to the fact that I have whole sheets of projects that I feel a lot more passionately about writing, and I’d say it’s not hopeless, but it’s not something I’ll be working on soon. (Maybe a short story or novella about them, perhaps. In the meantime, there’s Jocelyn’s Story to read.)
5) What are the Infernal Devices about? How are they related to the Mortal Instruments?
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 Clockwork Angel, the second, Clockwork Prince, the third, 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) I already own the hardback but want the special content that comes in the paperback version of a book (“Magnus’ Vow”, etc), what can I do?
I understand that special content may be frustrating — you may already have the paperback but the special content is in the hardcover. There may be different editions of hardcovers that you are forced to choose between. You may live in a country where my books are not published in hardback, so there is no new paperback edition and therefore no special content. Let me take a moment to explain what special content is for.
My publisher(s) produce, or ask me to produce, fun extras for different editions to incentivize bookstores and other outlets (libraries, etc) to get excited about the book. In the case of Magnus’ Vow, the short story is in response to bookstores’ request for special content aimed at those who do not realize the Infernal Devices exist, or do not realize they are connected to the Mortal Instruments.
If you really want to read Magnus’ Vow but already own the hardcover of Clockwork Angel, I would recommend asking the library for a copy. Libraries are generally very good about having popular paperbacks on hand. As for content that comes in the back of hardbacks, I always post it online as soon as the exclusivity period (usually 3-6 months) is up. For instance, you can read the letter that was included in the back of the US hardcover City of Fallen Angels here along with other special content I have written just for online fans. [Unfortunately I can't say the same for Magnus' Vow. Unlike hardbacks, which sellout or stop being produced in the first 12 months of publication, paperbacks are forever. Until S&S decides to stop using the story in the paperback, I can't post it online. I don't have the legal right to do that.]
I’ve been in this position before myself — I’ve bought a hardback from an author I like only to find there was a special new edition, or some extra content in the paperback. I think of it as the difference between seeing a movie onscreen and buying the DVD, which will have extra footage/bloopers/what have you. Yes, the people buying the DVD get extra stuff, but I got to see the movie first, and in my preferred way. For those of you who feel like those who are buying the paperback now are getting a better deal: remember, you got something they didn’t. You got to read the book more than a year before them.
If you’re still really mad, you can write to Simon and Schuster — ultimately the fact that these extras exist and the way they are used is up to them.
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? How long did it take to write?
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.” As for the second trilogy, the themes are temptation; the fall; and redemption. It took me about two years to write the first book and develop the world: since then it’s taken me about a year per book to write the others.
7) Have the Mortal Instruments books been translated into other languages?
Yes. The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices have been sold in over thirty countries. 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 and Infernal Devices books? What do the titles mean?
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: Clary and Simon
City of Bones is called that because there is a city made of bones in it. City of Glass is called City of Glass because that’s what the Shadowhunters call Alicante. City of Ashes is after the ashes that rain down at the end of the book, and City of Fallen Angels is about temptation: the “fall” from grace.
Clockwork Angel: Will
Clockwork Prince: Jem
Clockwork Princess: Tessa
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.
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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.
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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 my official fansite: Mundie Source.
While I am absolutely pro fanworks — go ahead and write fanfiction, make fanvids, and draw fanart — for legal reasons I can’t read fanfiction of my own work, so while you can share it with others, you can’t send it to me.
14) How do you pronounce the names in the books? Maryse, Clave, stele, Alicante, etc?
All the people and place names in the books are real names. Even Idris and iratze are real words. You can find out their pronunciation by doing this.
Really, it works, I promise. :) The reason I don’t provide a pronunciation guide to the words in the books is that when I was a kid, I used to read all these fantasy books and just make up how the words sounded in my head. Whenever I found out that the author or someone else pronounced the words differently, I’d be really disappointed. If you want to look up the standard pronunciation of the words (which is what is used in the audiobooks) then you can use the above method. But you should also feel free to pronounce them as you like.
14b) 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?
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 named Will, but Jace is a name I always liked, and it needed to be something that could be short for Jonathan (and now the name 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 second set of runes here:
http://bhanesidhe.deviantart.com/art/Tattoo-Runes-II-188089489
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
17a) What did Jace say to Sebastian in Romanian in City of Glass?
“Jace smiled. “De ce crezi ca va ascultam conversatia?”
Sebastian met his glance with a look of pleasant interest. “M-ai urmarit de când ai ajuns aici,”he replied. “Nu-mi dau seama daca nu ma placi ori daca esti atât de banuitor cu toata lumea.”
Jace smiled. “[Why do you think I was listening to your conversation?].”
Sebastian met his glance with a look of pleasant interest. “[You've been watching me since you got here],” he replied. “[I can't tell if you don't like me or you're just this suspicious of everyone].”
17 b) I have heard Tessa appears in City of Glass. Where is the scene where I can find her?
She is in the epilogue of City of Glass. “‘Magnus stood in the shadow of a tree, talking to a girl in a white dress with a cloud of pale brown hair. She turned as Magnus looked toward them, and Clary locked eyes with her for a moment across the distance that separated them. There was something familar about her, though Clary couldn’t have said it what it was.’” Why Tessa is there, whether she is immortal or a ghost, and why she is talking to Magnus, is a mystery at this time that will be sorted out in later books. Speaking of later books: I often get asked if Tessa will appear in future TMI volumes. Unfortunately I can’t answer that as it’s a spoiler!
17c) Is Church the cat immortal or are all Institute cats named Church?
Church is immortal. Same cat in Clockwork Angel as in City of Bones. He is not a normal cat.He was not born immortal. His immortality has to do with the necromantic rituals practiced on him in Clockwork Angel. How he ends up in New York remains currently a mystery.
17d) When do warlocks stop aging? Who is Magnus’ demon father?
You will find out about Magnus’ demon father in upcoming books. Also more details about warlocks and when they stop aging, though I can say it does depend on the demonic parent.
17d) Can parabatai only be two boys and if not, why doesn’t Isabelle have one?
Parabatai can be boy-boy, boy-girl, or girl-girl. They must choose each other before either of them turns eighteen. There’s no requirement. They just have to choose each other. There is a ceremony. It is generally done in the Silent City or Idris. You will get to hear about it in Clockwork Prince. You can have only one parabatai in your life: the only way to break the bond is death, or one of you becoming Downworlder or mundane (or both). You can’t have a romantic relationship with your parabatai. It’s against the Law. Most people don’t have one — it’s like being left-handed. So it’s normal for Izzy not to have one.
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’s imagination — for them to fill in what they think the character was going to say.To just state what it was or would have been it was destroys that space (and frankly, while I usually know what they were going to speak about, I don’t usually know specifically what they were going to say. Because they never said it.)
19) Can I read The Infernal Devices without reading The Mortal Instruments first? Does it matter which order I read the series in?
Yes, you can absolutely read The Infernal Devices without having read the Mortal Instruments. They are companions series. Both series feature characters who are introduced to the supernatural world, so you learn about it along with them. Reading one series before the other will not spoil the other series for you, only enhance it. As I say here, on the page which explains the differences between the two series:
You do not have to have read The Mortal Instruments to read The Infernal Devices. You do not have to have read The Infernal Devices to read The Mortal Instruments. It is just more fun if you read both.
When people ask what order to read the books in, I suggest that if you have already read City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass, you read Clockwork Angel before you read City of Fallen Angels. This is because characters who you first meet in Clockwork Angel show up in City of Fallen Angels and seeing them in CoFA will be more interesting for you if you have read Clockwork Angel first. Clockwork Angel also comes out six months before City of Fallen Angels, so it makes sense to read it when it is released. Nothing in Clockwork Angel will spoil COFA for you. Nothing in COFA will spoil Clockwork Angel for you. The two series are meant to be read as companion books. They enhance but do not spoil one another.
20) I heard there are going to be graphic novels of TMI and TID. Is that true?
Yes, I am happy to say, it is true! Th3rd World Publishing is going to be releasing the Mortal Instruments as a series of comic books. They will be released first as monthly installments and then bound together into graphic novels (one per book) and released in bookstores. The release dates haven’t been announced yet, though I do know the comics will begin releasing in winter and the graphic novel in spring of 2013. As of now they will be available only in North America. You can read more about it here and see some sketches of the characters here and here.
As for The Infernal Devices, they will be released as a manga series by Yen Press. You can read about it here— publication is slated for Fall 2012.
21) What is the time span for the TMI books? How much time do they cover?
The first three books cover about three to four weeks. There is a gap of two months between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels. In total the whole series will probably end up spanning about five months.
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?
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?
5) Did you take any specific classes to become a writer?
6) What kind of research did you do about the angels, demons and mythical creatures in the Shadowhunter books?
7) What kind of music do you like? Do you listen to music when you’re writing?
9) Where do you come up with Jace’s witty lines??
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). You can also find the playlist for Clockwork Angel : here.
8) How do you come up with Jace’s funny lines?
EB White once said: “Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better but the frog dies in the process.” The answer is: I don’t really know. I have a lot of funny friends. I am very sarcastic myself. I keep my ears out for funny conversations my friends have and often adapt aspects of them for my books. If you really want to learn how to write humor, there are books out there about it, although I tend to think either you have an ear for what’s funny — which is generally about timing and word choice — or you don’t.
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. The plots of both the Mortal Instruments series and the Infernal Devices series rest on a lot of carefully planned misdirection and foreshadowing — both of which are very difficult to do if you don’t already know where you’re going. (Yes, you can go back and rewrite a single book to insert foreshadowing, etc. — but you can’t rewrite books that have already been published). I also write better when I’m aware of structure — when I know not only what’s going to happen, but when it needs to happen, when clues need to be dropped, and where and when certain things need to be emphasized or de-emphasized. I outline not just the series, but individual books, and not just the individual books, but each chapter, scene by scene. I also outline each character’s arc — where they start out, what they want when they start out, where their chief moments of growth/discovery are, and how they end up.
Now, 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. It also doesn’t mean I never change anything if it isn’t working — I do, and then I adjust my outline accordingly.
For those interested, 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: