YA Love Triangle Week: Interview with Cassandra Clare (Author of The Mortal Instrument Series)

I'm so excited to be able to post an interview with Cassandra Clare. She was nice enough to agree to an interview and her answers were so fascinating. Again, I focused on the boys we love and how she writes love triangles. I really hope you enjoy!

1) What is Simon's best attribute? Why would he be a good match for Clary?

Simon has a lot of great attributes. He's loyal, he's brave, he's devoted, he's smart. He and Clary have known each other forever and he still loves her, which means he loves the real her, the her with no makeup, the her with messy hair, the her covered in grease pencil, the her with chicken pox. He's already a part of her family and her mom loves him. They also have similar interests and values.

2) What's Simon's biggest flaw? 

Stubborness and over-sensitivity. If he wasn't so worried about how it would make him look, he would have told Clary and the others what was going on with him in the beginning of Ashes and thus saved himself — well, let's just say, a lot of pain.

3) Is there something about Simon that didn't make it into the books that you'd like to share? A fun fact that we should know?

He keeps his father's wedding ring on his keychain. It has an inscription in Hebrew that comes up later.

4) Do you have a favorite line that Simon says off the top of your head?

I think his speech about how telling your family you're a vampire is like coming out. 

5) Is there something you'd like to say to all the Simon supporters out there?

Look, I love Simon. Out of all the characters in the book I relate to him the best. Anyone who loves Simon gets on my good side automatically! 

6) What is Jace's best attribute? What makes him good for Clary?

Jace is also loyal and brave, smart and devoted; he never abandons or leaves behind the people he loves. In fact, once he loves someone, it takes a lot to dismantle that. You can see it in his relationship with his father. I think he's good for Clary because he admires those qualities in her, her bravery and her devotion to the people she loves, despite his protectiveness, he understands why she does the things she does. He's also totally devoted to her. There's a lot to be said for a guy for whom you really will always come first.   

7) What is Jace's biggest flaw?

Unfortunately it's also one of Clary's flaws: he takes risks, and tends to act before he thinks. He's more self-destructive than she is though. 

8) Is there something about Jace that didn't make it into the books that you'd like you share? 

He is secretly annoyed that Alec is taller than him. 

9) Do you have a favorite line of Jace's off the top of your head?

'My rapier wit hides my inner pain.' 

10) What would you like to say to all the Jace supporters?

The second cycle of the TMI books is going to be a wild ride for you guys. 

11) When you originally sat down to write City of Bones, did you plan a love triangle or did it evolve as you started writing?

Oh, I'm not a seat of the pants writer. I outline everything. I already knew everything that was going to happen to Jace, Clary and Simon before I started writing. The thing about love triangles is that they're as varied as snowflakes, and I think part of what marks their enduring appeal is that at base, they are an allegory for your hero or heroine's choice between two different kinds of lives. Choosing between Jace and Simon, for Clary, was always going to be about choosing between a Shadowhunting life, represented by Jace, and a normal life, represented by Simon.  

12) I hear there is another love triangle sprouting in your newest novel Clockwork Angel between Tessa, Will & Jem. Care to share a little about them for the readers who don't know? I spot a wholenew love triangle and a few boys to add to our love'em list!

I think of the love triangle in Clockwork as a love triangle in its purest sense, more so than in The Mortal Instruments. It is equally weighted toward both boys — we have Tessa, our heroine, a Downworlder with an unusual power, torn between these two Shadowhunters. When I said love triangles were as varied as snowflakes, this is what I was talking about — small alternations change the dynamic enormously. For instance, Jace and Simon can't stand each other. But Will and Jem are best friends, and really devoted to each other. Neither wants to make the other unhappy. They're also both burdened by their own secrets and flaws and in some way need saving — but she can't save them both. It's a lot of fun and I'm getting a big kick out of writing it!

Hopefully this will help you in your choice over which boy your going to side with. I want to give a great big thank you to Cassandra Clare for her brilliant answers and encourage everyone who hasn't gone out to buy these book to do so!