Cassandra Clare discusses future projects

Recently Cassandra Clare answered questions on her Tumblr page and divulged that she plans to write another shadowhunter series beyond TDA. How exciting is that? There is much to look forward to in the future.

Could she have been hinting to what is in store for that series in her response to the question? Share your thoughts with me.

Here's the question she was asked:

Hello Ms Clare;
I’m enjoying your Shadowhunter chronicles insofar, and I’ve recently heard about TDA and the Bane Chronicles - which are great, but I’m just wondering if you’re going embark on a completely new and divergent series after those wrap - because as much as I’m enjoying this world, it would be great to see you put your skill to use on the creation of another, equally detailed and developed one.

And this was her answer:


Thanks for your kind words!

There isn’t any need to wait for TDA and the Bane Chronicles to wrap up if you want to see me writing a non-Shadowhunter book. Though I don’t talk about it much, because there is only so much to say about books no one has read yet, I have another series, called the Magisterium series (first book: The Iron Trial) coming out next year — it’s cowritten with Holly Black, and we’ve already finished the first book and are starting the second.

It’s also fantasy, and also in our world, but the magic system is very different: it’s elemental magic with five elements, and a magical history based in part on the robber baron era of American history. You can see what I’ve blogged about it on tumblr before. There’s also information about it on my website.

It’s fun to create a whole new world with new kinds of magic, and lots of fun to work with Holly. It exercises different kinds of creative muscles and different parts of one’s imagination than expanding an already existing universe. I do love the Shadowhunters and do intend to keep writing in that universe for a while — I have a plan for a series after TDA even — because there is a specific kind of creative enjoyment in taking a world that doesn’t need to be re-introduced to readers and ringing changes on it: it allows you to play with reader expectations, reverse tropes, and break the rules of the world you’ve created in ways you can’t do with a world people are unfamiliar with (to break a rule readers have come to believe is inherent to the world — for instance, that ordinary humans don’t know about Shadowhunters — is interesting/shocking if you’re familiar with the world; not interesting if you’ve just encountered it.) It’s also fun to create a new magical system without the restrictions of rules you’ve already created. It’s like writing within the formal restrictions of a sonnet vs. writing blank verse — neither is better and both are enjoyable, but it’s interesting to experience the differences.