Cassandra
Rose Clarke is an author of speculative fiction for both teenagers and adults.
She grew up in south Texas and currently lives in a suburb of Houston, where
she writes and teaches composition at a local college. Her first novel, The
Assassin’s Curse, received a starred review from Kirkus and was nominated for
YALSA’s 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults, and her short fiction has appeared
in Strange Horizons and Daily Science Fiction.
Read more about Cassandra in her interview below:
At
what age did you start writing?
I
can’t remember the exact age, unfortunately. However, I always loved making
stories up, and I remember writing stories and plays when I was in elementary
school. In fourth grade I took a career test on the school computers and
learned my highest match was novelist. I guess it was ordained from the start!
Patty
Campbell talks about the germ for a piece of writing being like the sand in the
oyster. What is your grain of sand? Do you begin with character or
setting or something else?
It
depends on the book, but usually it’s something very small, almost abstract—an
image, a feeling, a character quirk. From there, the characters and setting tend
to evolve simultaneously.
Do
you outline before you write or just dive in?
I
used to just dive right in, but these days I outline. The problem with diving
right in is that sometimes it works beautifully—a story grabs me and won’t let
go. Other times, though, I waste a lot of time figuring out what I want to
happen. I’ve slowly learned how to outline to help make my writing more
efficient.
Why
do you write for Young Adults or Children or Adult (whichever is pertinent)?
I
write for both young adults and adults, and I’d like to try my hand at writing
for children in the future. I like writing across the age groups because it
broadens the sorts of things that I can write about and explore. YA lets me
take part in the magic of reading—there tends to be a less jaded view of books
among YA readers, and I love that. Writing for adults lets me deal with issues
and events that aren’t yet a part of teenagers’ lives. I can’t imagine writing
for just one age group!
Who
is your favorite character you have written or read about?
While
I can’t really pick a favorite character (that’s like picking favorite
children, in a way), the character I had the most fun writing was
Ongraygeeomryn, the manticore from the The Pirate’s Wish. She doesn’t think
like a human at all, and it was so much fun to figure out all the strange ways
she would react to a given situation.
What
is one thing you would like your readers to know about you?
I
hated The Assassin’s Curse when I finished writing it (mostly because I’d been
messing with it so much), and it went on to become my best-selling book! Just
goes to show that no author is a good judge of their own work.
In
high school, where did you fall?
I
floated around between groups, so I had friends among the stoners, the
over-achievers, the nerds, and so on, but I never really fit in with a
particular clique. Seventeen magazine informed me at one point I was a
“Drifter” so I guess that would be my proper high school designation.
Do
you have a pet (pets)? Tell us about it (them) and how they help/hinder
your writing.
I
have two cats named Robert Barcatheon and Leeroy Catkins. They love to bother
me when I’m on my computer. Leeroy will meow, very loudly and insistently,
until I stop what I’m doing and come pet her. Robert just jumps on my desk and
sits on my keyboard. So basically they hinder my writing all over the
place. I still love them, though!
What
books or authors have most influenced your writing most?
Margaret
Atwood because I love her use of language and structure, the complexity of her
characters, and the way she plays around with genre. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
because One Hundred Years of Solitude was so unlike anything I’d read, and it
helped me to see that you didn’t have to stick to genre divides. Kelly Link for
much the same reason.
Which
famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?
Probably
Wong Kar Wai, a film director from Hong Kong. He’s my favorite director of all
time, and he’s also one of my biggest non-writer influences, so I would love to
have a chance to talk to him.
It’s
the dawn of the zombie apocalypse, what 3 things are a must to take with you
when you flee your home for refuge from the undead hordes??
Running
shoes, a hammer (the closest thing to an anti-zombie weapon I have in my
apartment), and a box of Kind bars
Jessica Brody
is the author of 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, My Life Undecided,
The Karma Club, and the first two books in a new sci-fi/suspense/romance
trilogy: Unremembered and Unforgotten. Her books have been
translated and published in over 20 countries and several have been optioned
for film and TV. Sometimes she wishes her memories could be erased so she could
reread all her favorite books for the first time. She splits her time between
California and Colorado. 
