Thursday November 3 2009!
Interview with Cassandra Clare
There are people I know and others out there that don’t seem to like Jace’ attitude: saying he’s too cocky and arrogant, but some may argue but that’s what makes him so lovable and attractive -- his dangerous confident side. He’s tough, passionately and protective about the people he cares about e.g., Clary. I personally can’t understand how you cannot love Jace, so how do you feel about these opinions, and when you were thinking up Jace' character what did you have in mind?
I think that literary characters are like real people — no single one of them is universally beloved by everyone on the planet. We're all different, and we're drawn to, or repelled by, different qualities. I am less interested in whether people love Jace than whether they find him interesting — I've read many a book about characters who I suspected I'd dislike in real life, because I was curious about what they'd do next and what would happen to them. As for Jace being cocky and arrogant — I think not many people get to the end of the series and continue to think that that's true.
Clary is someone I really connect with. She’s not perfect and she makes mistakes just like everyone else but she always seems to pick herself up and get on with it. When you thought her up was this what you felt determined to portray? Someone who is relatable, someone we can all see in a part of us?
Clary's a lot of fun to write. She's brave, strong, stubborn, and really reckless — which sometimes works out well for her and sometimes not so well. But it can't always work out, or then she wouldn't be relatable — I think her vulnerability makes her relatable too; she's someone who can be easily hurt, but soldiers on anyway. She gets knocked down, but she gets up again. :)
What inspired you do create the brother sister tag on Jace and Clary, or was it just something you thought would stir up some juicy horror and confusion for us readers?
I'm my first reader — the person I write for. I have to come up with stories that interest and fascinate me, or I have no impetus to continue writing the story. I got the idea for Clary and Jace's relationship from a newspaper article about two people who were about to get married when they realized via blood tests that they were in fact brother and sister, and had been adopted out to different families. It seemed like a good set-up for a dramatic story arc. I was instantly interested in what would happen next. I have to say that a version of the books in which the brother-sister twist didn't exist would have bored me to pieces. I don't think I could have written it.
Give me one word that comes to mind when you think of the character... Valentine
Misguided.
Tessa is mentioned briefly in the end of City of Glass
Tessa and Clary do share some qualities — I think the ability to love passionately, a dedication to friends and family, and a single strong female figure in their lives (in Tessa's case, her aunt, in Clary's, her mother.) And both have a significant power they have to learn to control. But in other ways they're very different: Clary sees everything visually, she's a visual artist, and Tessa's bound up in books and stories and imagines herself a sort of fictional heroine. Tessa is shy, while Clary is definitely not. As for Will and Jace, that's a tough question to answer without being too spoilery. I think people will find at first that Will is a lot like Jace — not that surprising, since they're related — but as the story goes on, there are things about Will that are revealed that make him very different.
Without giving too much away, a lot of us just watched very fondly in the end of City of Glass
I don't think of boys as prizes that girls "deserve" or don't! And I like both Maia and Isabelle. It's really a question of which is better suited to Simon, and whether there are other love interests out there for the girls — which will be explored in the fourth book.
Last of all the relationship between Magnus and Alec. Although we see it develop and see what they feel is truly strong and real. Since you put this lovable pair together, what is it that you personally felt that attracted Magnus to Alec and visa versa?
I think that Magnus is attracted to Alec because Alec is completely genuine. He doesn't play games or fake things he doesn't feel. And I think Alec is attracted to Magnus because Magnus is, underneath all his glitter and crazy outfits, morally solid, extremely intelligent, absolutely trustworthy, and constantly interesting — what's not to like?
I’d like to finish off with thanking Cassandra Clare for just taking out her time to answer all my questions thank you :)
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