Regulars here at NNT may have noticed lately that I’ve been doing double duty recently — writing articles as the Portland Books Examiner at Examiner.com. Since we talk a lot about books here at NNT, there has been some crossover. That continues now, with my exclusive interview with Cassandra Clare!

Why do you think there is such a crossover of fans between The Mortal Instruments and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga?

I suppose because our books explore similar themes of forbidden love and destiny in an contemporary-fantastic context.

Novel Novice Twilight is an education-based site, and in all our interviews we always ask: What was your educational experience like growing up? Did you ever have a teacher who really made a difference?

I went to a very small private high school with a focus on arts and literature. The woman who had actually founded the school did a single private writing session each year with a student; you had to apply to get the class. I did it my junior year, and she taught me a lot. I still have all these annotated books she gave me with careful notes about plot, metaphor, character, arc, change, all that stuff.

You can view the rest of my interview with Cassandra HERE … where she talks more about City of Fallen Angels, the fourth book in The Mortal Instruments series and her trilogy of prequels, The Infernal Devices.

And stay tuned … next week NNT will be launching our new September-October Fan Fiction challenge with prizes from The Mortal Instruments!

See more from The Mortal Instruments at NNT here.