Shadow Hunted – Q&A With Cassandra Clare
Cassandra Clare is not only the creator of a thriving world that many wish was real, she has also inspired readers and writers across the globe to put pen to paper or, as she prefers, fingers to keyboard, and write.As people skipped their Sunday sleep-ins and slowly filed into the auditorium at the Queensland State Library, there was a noticeable change in both the demographic and dress sense of attendees. Leather jackets, a colour pallet of black and runes drawn on skin brought together a group of strangers as they eagerly waited for their turns to ask the creator of one of their favourite worlds all of their burning questions.
And Cassandra Clare did not disappoint, opening the event with a world premiere of her current project and reintroducing the room full of shadow hunters to a familiar character as she patrolled through a nightclub on the hunt for downworlders.
From there Clare went on to answer all of the questions that she could fit into the hour-long session, while attempting to keep spoilers to a minimum.
Clare went on to announce the 'Simon Chronicles' will be released in bookstores next year, give her opinion on the cast of the new 'Shadow Hunters' TV show (she loves them, in case you were wondering) and hand out as many writing tips as she could, while the audience eagerly wrote down all the notes their hands could keep up with.
If you are an aspiring writer, Clare suggests finding a writing buddy to keep you on track as well as a word count that you must hit every day before stopping.
Iron Trials – Cassandra Clare and Holly Black
Friends since 2002, Cassandra Clare and Holly Black has always talked about writing a book together. Always busy with their own projects, the two often bounced ideas off each other and had thought of an idea that each encouraged the other to write. It wasn't until the were sitting inside a tiny 'international' airport, which they joked was only able to call itself international as it had just one international flight, that they finally decided the only way that idea would come to life would be if they wrote it together.Clare said it was as if Black woke from her caffeine deprived sleep with a prophecy, though it may have been all the coffee hitting her system at once.
With 'Magisterium: The Copper Gauntle't now in the hands of readers worldwide, the two were more than excited to finally talk about what the series is actually about (don't worry, no spoilers here!).
Although working on this project together has not altered their friendship one bit, both Clare and Black openly talked about their arguments and disagreements while writing. From simply changing a word through to changing a characters name entirely and forgetting to tell the other person, the two worked through their issues by coming up with a third outcome together that both to agree on.
'Magisterium: The Iron Trial' is available in bookstores now.
