Contributor, Ruth Wallace catches up with Cassandra Clare in an exclusive interview!!
1) While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters and who is the favourite of your characters in the Infernal Devices series?
While I identify in some way or another with all my characters, I never really feel as if I am any of them. They are all much braver than me. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to face the kinds of terrifying things they face! It’s always difficult to pick a favourite character, like picking a favourite child. Certainly Tessa is the most like me, and Magnus is the most fun to write.
2) Were there any challenges that you faced in bringing the Steampunk genre to life?
Well, the steampunk genre has already been brought to life by so many talented writers: KW Jeter, Cherie Priest, Michael Swansea. Following in their footsteps is a challenge of course, and as well, Steampunk is very hard to define. It’s one of those genres that baffles the average onlooker. You can explain that it’s alternate history, but that’s not quite write, or retrofitted Victorian technology, but that doesn’t quite capture it either, or modelled on Victorian scientific romances, but that’s not quite it either! It’s as much an aesthetic as a genre, so I find I have more luck explaining it as historical fantasy with a bit of the gothic.
3) What book are you reading now? Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Right now I’m reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, which I’m really enjoying, and Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. One takes place in Prague and one in London and both are immediately gripping.
4) What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
I rely on my critique group, which is made up of very diverse writers, from Holly Black to Kelly Link, to dole out honest criticism when I turn in my drafts to them. Their feedback is as important to me as my editor’s. I think they best compliment I ever got was also from my critique group, which is all made up of authors I admire: “I am envious of this passage.” I think when someone is envious of something you wrote it’s the best compliment!
5) When you start writing do you follow a regular routine or have a particular writing process? Do you start with an outline, or just write?
Well, in writing, there are plotters and people who fly by the seat of their trousers, so to speak, and I am definitely one of the former. I am not comfortable unless I have an outline. To me it is the dress form on which the story is moulded. So I do carefully outline a series before I begin it, and then outline each book within the series individually before I begin writing that.
Do you have any advice to give to young aspiring writers?
Read! Read all the time, read the kinds of works you love and also experiment outside your comfort zone. Read multiple genres. It will give you a wider canvas for your imagination once you begin to write your own work.
9) Is there a theme or idea you really fancy working on?
I always loved the idea of the reluctant hero. The guy, or girl, who really has no aspirations of glory and is dragged into a situation in which they must perform heroic deeds because there is literally no one else to do them. I’d love to explore than in an upcoming work.
10) What project are you working on now or will you have a new book coming out soon?
My next book is City of Lost Souls, the fifth book in the Mortal Instruments series, and it releases in May, 2012. Right now I’m working on Clockwork Princess, the final instalment in the Infernal Devices trilogy, and in wrapping up that story and saying goodbye to those characters.
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