filing off the seriAl nuMbers
77
Malfoy are obvious. 54 Like James, Clare completely omits the years she spent
writing in the fan community in her author narrative and instead ties her
work to her personal and professional life. In her public appearances and
in communication with her readers, she narrates anecdotes about friends
who were models for characters and dialogue she overheard which she than
weaves into narratives. In her appearance at the National Book Festival in
2011, she identifies her work as extensively intertextual, and shows that the
practices of pastiche, appropriation, and transformation that she was hailed
for (as well as accused of plagiarism) in the context of fanfiction writing
are still part of her writing procedure:
[U]sually characters are a composite of people I know, […] pure imagination, people I’ve read about, […] characters I’ve loved and books and
movies and television and historical figures, usually all so mashed up
that by the time that the character hits the page, even the person it was
originally based on, doesn’t recognize themselves anymore. 55
When an audience member explicitly asks her about her history as a fanfiction writer, and the merits she gained from the practice, Clare diverts
from the subject, and points to her professional career as a writer again: “I
think if you write fanfiction, if you write nonfiction, if you write technical
writing, if you did what I did and write journalism for six or seven years,
it’s all helpful.” Asked for her inspiration for The Mortal Instruments in a
TV feature, Clare also refers to autobiographical anecdotes as a form of
pre-text. She explains that she was interested in writing a fantasy novel set
in New York when she moved there, and was inspired by tattoos based on
runes, which were originally applied to warriors as symbols of protection,
at a friend’s tattoo parlor: “And so I thought, what about a series about a […]
group of modern day demon hunters, and they use these tattoos and they
really work and so that was […] the spark idea and I went home and started
trying to develop the magic system.” 56 Again, Clare provides a lot of detail
and personal anecdotes to account for her writing while omitting another
dimension of her circumstance like the fact that the magical tools such as
wands and potions that are part of the so-called Potterverse needed to be
54 On the FAQ site, Clare explains that the characters are invented for the story and sometimes
inspired by people she knows. The answer very cleverly evades any illusion to Draco by stating,
“Jace, alas, is definitely not based on anyone real.”
55 Cassandra Clare, Cassandra Clare: 2011 National Book Festival. The Library of Congress. 2011.
56 Ibid.
77
Malfoy are obvious. 54 Like James, Clare completely omits the years she spent
writing in the fan community in her author narrative and instead ties her
work to her personal and professional life. In her public appearances and
in communication with her readers, she narrates anecdotes about friends
who were models for characters and dialogue she overheard which she than
weaves into narratives. In her appearance at the National Book Festival in
2011, she identifies her work as extensively intertextual, and shows that the
practices of pastiche, appropriation, and transformation that she was hailed
for (as well as accused of plagiarism) in the context of fanfiction writing
are still part of her writing procedure:
[U]sually characters are a composite of people I know, […] pure imagination, people I’ve read about, […] characters I’ve loved and books and
movies and television and historical figures, usually all so mashed up
that by the time that the character hits the page, even the person it was
originally based on, doesn’t recognize themselves anymore. 55
When an audience member explicitly asks her about her history as a fanfiction writer, and the merits she gained from the practice, Clare diverts
from the subject, and points to her professional career as a writer again: “I
think if you write fanfiction, if you write nonfiction, if you write technical
writing, if you did what I did and write journalism for six or seven years,
it’s all helpful.” Asked for her inspiration for The Mortal Instruments in a
TV feature, Clare also refers to autobiographical anecdotes as a form of
pre-text. She explains that she was interested in writing a fantasy novel set
in New York when she moved there, and was inspired by tattoos based on
runes, which were originally applied to warriors as symbols of protection,
at a friend’s tattoo parlor: “And so I thought, what about a series about a […]
group of modern day demon hunters, and they use these tattoos and they
really work and so that was […] the spark idea and I went home and started
trying to develop the magic system.” 56 Again, Clare provides a lot of detail
and personal anecdotes to account for her writing while omitting another
dimension of her circumstance like the fact that the magical tools such as
wands and potions that are part of the so-called Potterverse needed to be
54 On the FAQ site, Clare explains that the characters are invented for the story and sometimes
inspired by people she knows. The answer very cleverly evades any illusion to Draco by stating,
“Jace, alas, is definitely not based on anyone real.”
55 Cassandra Clare, Cassandra Clare: 2011 National Book Festival. The Library of Congress. 2011.
56 Ibid.