Who are your favorite authors? Were there any that inspired you in the creation of The Mortal Instruments?
I have too many favorite authors to name, but they include J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, N.K. Jemisin, and Ursula K. Le Guin. The Mortal Instruments were in part inspired by the Bordertown series edited by Terri Windling, and the urban fantasy work of authors like Emma Bull and Charles De Lint, but also by older work like Paradise Lost and the Inferno, and my own relationship with New York City.
What role do physical books play in your home and in your life? Do you collect books? How do you organize your bookshelf?
I do collect books! I love them for the stories they contain, but also as beautiful objects. I had to fill a barn with bookshelves to hold them all. I organize them by genre, and paperbacks go in spinning racks like they have in libraries (or they used to) — books go from floor to ceiling and there are moving ladders on casters to reach the higher ones. It’s my dream library.
What’s your favorite scene, moment, or line that you’ve written?
I’ll always have a soft spot for when Clary destroys Valentine’s ship in City of Ashes! Valentine is horrified and proud all at once. I also like the scene where Jace tells Clary a sort of fairytale about a boy whose father killed his falcon pet and Clary realized he is talking about himself.
You’ve lived all over the world, from Iran to France to the U.S., and your love of travel really comes through in your writing. What have you noticed about books and reading in different cities and countries around the world?
One thing I’ve always loved about books is how they are compact companions that can travel with you. When I read a book for the first time, I’ll always connect it in my mind with the place I was when I was reading it, and vice versa, which makes for many delightful literary memories.
Your upcoming release, The Last King of Faerie is the first book in the last trilogy of the Shadowhunters universe. How does it feel to be wrapping up your storytelling in a world you’ve spent so much time in? Do you have any ideas about where you might go next?
It feels strange, but also exciting. I’ll miss writing the characters, but I do look forward to getting to start anew. The world of Shadowhunters is so enormous, writing within it has come to involve a lot of in-world research and cross-referencing, and while that’s what makes it an immersive read, it also makes for a lot of work! I have an idea for a YA high fantasy series, and I’m excited to be building a new world for it—new magic and new monsters.
Juniper Books has an upcoming release of a set for The Infernal Devices, which features some fan favorite characters and love stories. We have to ask the impossible question: when readers say “Will or Jem?” how do you answer? Do you secretly have a soft spot for one of their love stories?
I believe that Will and Jem are both perfect for Tessa. When people ask I always say “both”! I guess I could say that Will was perfect for her in her younger years, and Jem is perfect for her when she’s seen a bit more of the world. I truly don’t have a favorite!
You explore so many different identities in the Shadowhunter universe, from the Persian protagonist of The Last Hours, Cordelia, to the upcoming The Last King of Faerie release which centers a queer love story and an autistic protagonist. I’m curious about what representation and diversity in a fantasy universe means to you in your writing?
I believe that fantasy is most resonant when it reflects the world around us. A lot of the books I grew up loving were overwhelmingly written by and for white men, and while that didn’t stop me from adoring those books, there was always a part of me that longed to see people I knew better reflected in fantasy stories. Diversity is such a vital part of human life, to remove that from fantasy, to flatten it out, is uninspiring. It’s a missed opportunity. Fantasy may be made up, but if it isn’t grounded in human experience, it’ll feel hollow and theoretical. I want my readers to be able to see identities they recognize and relate with in my books, regardless of whether there are werewolves and demon hunting involved as well. And above all things I want people to believe that anyone can be a Shadowhunter. It’s not restricted to anything but your bravery.
Your Shadowhunter books span centuries and cities, from The Infernal Devices set in 19th century London to The Wicked Powers in modern day Los Angeles. What was your favorite place and time period to write about? What were your strategies for exploring historical fantasy?
It’s impossible to choose favorites, but since The Infernal Devices was my first historical fantasy project, my mind goes there first. I love Victorian literature, and I wanted to do the period justice. Even though TID is a historical fantasy that describes a London that never quite existed, it was important to me that the setting was well researched and believable. To stay true to the language and tone of the era, I embarked on an immersive reading project. For six months I read only books that were written during the Victorian period or set in the Victorian period. And eventually I went to London and walked all the routes I expected my characters to walk — taking into account the way the geography has changed, I did the best I could! I took photos for reference, and went to the Guildhall Library to study maps and records. I read a ton of books that concentrated on one tiny specific historical detail — like "Carriages at Eight!" by Frank Huggett. Doing all this helped me figure out many of the historical details that came to life in the Infernal Devices, and I did similar things when I was researching The Last Hours. That time around I was lucky to have a historian friend living in London to help me out with on-the-ground details!
With the Shadowhunters, you’ve created a fantastical universe that means so much to young fans all over the world. What are your favorite stories or memories of interacting with this community? What does it mean to you?
I love meeting readers at events, seeing their amazing costumes and tattoos and fan art, and hearing their words about what the stories have meant to them. Even after all these years it’s amazing to me that other people get to experience these characters and stories that used to just rattle around inside my head! The most moving is often when friends show me their parabatai tattoos, as it means they’ve taken on the meaning and mythology of what parabatai are in the books, which is a bond of absolute friendship.
You recently moved into the adult fantasy space with Sword Catcher, a high fantasy that explores different mythologies through a brilliant cast of adult characters entangled in fraught romances and friendships. What was that transition from YA to adult like?
The big difference I encountered is that in YA, your characters are working on problems of identity: What kind of person am I? What are my values? What does it mean to love someone new? But the characters in Sword Catcher are in their early twenties, and they’re facing different questions: What does it mean to take on the responsibilities of adulthood? For the first time, it matters that Conor is the prince because being the prince is his job—there’s pressure on him to marry, to make substantial decisions about the fate of his city. And Kel will stop being a bodyguard when Conor becomes king, so…what is he going to do then, presuming he survives long enough? He’s starting to realize that when dying for someone else has been your only purpose, you don’t really know who you are. Lin has been practicing as a physician, but because of who she is, there are certain kinds of medicine and knowledge that are forbidden to her—but what if she breaks the rules? Will the consequences destroy her? They’re all at these pivotal points, embarking on a new level of self-discovery.