MENU Skip to primary navigation Cassandra Clare NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS My Bio Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old. Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name). After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’ wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again. Cassie’s first professional writing sale was a short story called “The Girl’s Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord” in a Baen anthology of humor fantasy. Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her two cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines. City of Bones was her first novel. QUESTIONS FOR CASSIE ABOUT CASSANDRA Are Clary, Jace, Simon etc. based on people that you know? Are the places in the books real? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? Do you have book recommendations? 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? Did you take any specific classes to become a writer? What kind of research did you do about the angels, demons and mythical creatures in the Shadowhunter books? What kind of music do you like? Do you listen to music when you’re writing? How do you come up with Jace’s funny lines? Why teen books? Would you ever write books for adults? Do the various religious references in the books reflect your own religious views? Who is your agent/publisher? Do you know where the story is going when you sit down to write it? Do you outline? I found a typo in one of your books! How do you feel about fanworks: fanart and fanfiction of your work? SIGN UP FOR CASSIE’S MAILING LIST TO GET NEWS & EXCLUSIVE CONTENT DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX! Privacy Policy Terms of Use Ask Cassandra © Copyright 2006-2021 Cassandra Clare. All Rights Reserved. Web Design by Moxie Design Studios Privacy & Cookies Policy