Cassandra Clare (v.o.)

 



 
Cassandra Clare - City of bones


Lire l'interview en français

Hello Cassandra ! Our first question is a small ritual on Plume Libre, could you tell us who is Cassandra Clare ?
  I'm the author of  what in English is called The Mortal Instruments trilogy — I live in New York, enjoy fantasy novels, and own two cats.

 

How did you come to writing?
   I have always wanted to write. Even when I was a small child I enjoyed making stories up. In high school I wrote many bad novels. After that I was a journalist, but I always wanted to write fiction.

 
How did you go from « fan fiction » to the writing of a trilogy mixing paranormal, mythical creatures and romance?
    Well, even when I wrote fan fiction, it was about stories and books that had magic and the paranormal in them. Ever since I was very young I have been a fan of magic and the paranormal in literature. I love the way that including paranormal elements in a story allows for very beautiful allegories and metaphor. The fact that Clary is under a spell that prevents her from remembering that she can see the magical world may not be something that can happen in the real world, but it speaks to many teenager's feeling that they are somehow out of place, or even that their parents are hiding things from them.

 

How is born The Mortal Intstruments trilogy ? 
     I had the idea for the romances, and the twist at the end with Jace and Clary, before I had the general idea of doing a series where the magic system revolved around tattoos. And that came from a friend of mine who worked in a tattoo shop in the East Village. I was in her tattoo shop looking through the flash book — not that I have any tattoos myself, as I am not that cool, but I find them fascinating — and I got this idea about skin runes that offered protection against demons and how interesting that would be. And then I thought, I should combine these two ideas.

 

Clary, your heroine is very engaging but your others characters are also very interesting as Simon Magnus for instance who have a strong past.  Do you plan to develop his story ?
     Magnus Bane will appear in the next series I'm writing, called The Infernal Devices. As for Simon, I have been considering writing a spin-off novel or even a graphic novel about him and his next adventures.

 

How do you create your characters ?   Are you inspired by real people ? 
    Not really. One of the things I always find hilarious about watching TV shows about writers is that there's this perception that all writers are writing a thinly veiled version of their own life that stars all the people they know. Sometimes they'll change their friend Marcy's name to Darcy or something like that, for subtlety. In real point of fact, unless you're writing a memoir, it's very hard to base your characters wholesale on  on people you know, I find. Sometimes I incorporate bits of the personality of people I know — Simon has a similar sense of humor to my best friend, but is otherwise totally different.

 

What is the most difficulty when you write a trilogy?
    Making sure that you are keeping track of all the plotlines and that all questions are answered satisfactorily at the end. It takes a long time to write a trilogy, so by the time you're done, you have practically forgotten what happened in the first book!

 

How do you think to the development of your recurring characters before writing ?
    I think one of the great things about writing a series is developing characters over a long period of time. I think the trick is to establish characters that are relatable, yet flawed, and to put them in positions where both their flaws and strengths will be highlighted, and where they will be forced to make choices that reveal truths about them. I think characters must always be tested.

 

How do you choose the name of your characters ?
    The names in my books come from all over the place. Clary Fray is named after two friends of mine -- her original last name was Frayne, but it was shortened during editing as my editor liked the sound of Fray better. Jace is a name I always liked, and it needed to be something that could be short for Jonathan. 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 is named after a friend 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, ... werewolf!)

 

Why did you decide to write « young adults » novels ?
     I don't think I ever intended specifically to write for the young adult market. It's just that when the idea for City of Bones came to me, I knew the main characters were teenagers. I even had an editor at some point express interest in the book and ask me if I could make the characters older to make it an adult novel. I thought about it and said, "No, I don't think I could." In my mind they were just very clearly the ages they were, which turned out to mean it was a YA novel.

 

Your book is for young adults but more and more adults read also this kind of litterature.  What do you tkink about that ?

  I think that has something to do with the worldwide success of Harry Potter. Suddenly adults were picking up these books that were ostensibly for children, and were realizing there was a lot for them in these books, too. Everyone remembers what it was like to be a teenager. In many ways those years shape who you will always be. Why would adults not want to read books that speak to that very important time?

Was it difficult for you to be published or a fairy tale ?
     In the middle. I started writing the book in early 2004. After almost a year of endless revisions I had — not a complete book, but about ten chapters. I had met my agent, Barry Goldblatt, at a reading at the KGB Bar in Manhattan; he represented a friend of mine, and she introduced us and told him I had this novel I was working on that she really liked. He agreed to take a look at it, and offered representation based on those ten chapters. He had me revise them again, and then we sold the book off those chapters and a detailed outline of the plot of the next two books in the series.

What would you say to French readers who have not yet had the pleasure of discovering "City of bones"
     I think I would say, don't be scared off by the monsters and the magic! It's a book about love, and about discovering what it means to try to be a good person — very universal things.



Could you tell us some information about the next two volumes ? 
    City of Ashes is a darker and more adventurous book than City of Bones. Valentine returns, and slaughters all the Silent Brothers to get to the next Mortal Instrument, the Mortal Sword. Jace and Clary have to face him — and also their feelings about each other. City of Glass is the book that leaves New York and takes the cast to Idris, the demon hunters' home country. It is also the most romantic book, with all sorts of love — love triangles — love rectangles! 


Do you have some authors who inspired you and if yes, who are they ? 

   Colette. She created characters of such flawed humanity. Phillip Pullman and JK Rowling — the way they draw readers into their invented worlds is stunning.  PG Wodehouse — he is the funniest author who ever wrote.

What kind of music do you advise to read your books ?  
 
   I have playlists I make for each book, with song suggestions and why I picked each song. You can find one here:
http://www.musical-menagerie.com/2008/11/cassandra-clares-city-of-glass-play.html

 

We have another ritual on Plume Libre.  The last interviewed author ask to the next a question (without knowing who will be the next...)
Here is the question of Anne Robillard (Canadian author of  « Les chevaliers d'émeraude »)
"Can your works can help us to change the world ?"

      I think that every time a reader disappears into a book, every time they experience the world of that book as real and are transported from reality — every time a book brings someone happiness  — that the world is changed in a small way. So yes!

Do you have a question for the next interview ?
   People always say: "Write what you know." Do you think that is true?


Thank you very much Cassandra, you have the last word !
    Thank you. I hope to speak with you again when the next book comes out!


   Du même auteur : Biographie, chronique, interview

 

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