Cassandra Clare shares new ‘The Red Scrolls of Magic’ snippet and talks about co-writing

Cassandra Clare has just shared another snippet from her upcoming The Red Scrolls of Magic, a collaboration with author Wesley Chu. The past snippets have all focused on Pride Month so they featured LGBTQ+ characters from Cassie’s many series and this snippet is no different. In this scene Alec is on the phone with Isabelle and they chat about Alec’s relationship with Magnus.

“What was that noise?” Alec asked, mildly alarmed.

“Oh, it’s just Jace,” Isabelle said dismissively. “Hands off, Jace! He called me.”

“No, the sound like a thousand trashcan lids falling out of the sky.”

“Oh, Jace was swinging a big axe on a chain when you called,” Isabelle said. “Jace! Your axe is stuck in the wall. Don’t worry about unimportant things, Alec. Update me on the important stuff. How is Magnus, and I don’t mean his wellbeing?“

Alec coughed.

“I mean, how are his skills, and I’m not talking about the magical ones,” Isabelle clarified.

“I understand what you mean!” said Alec.

Alec did not exactly have an answer for Isabelle on that particular topic. When he and Magnus had been dating in New York, there had been several times when Alec really wanted to take things farther, but he wasn’t sure of how he felt. He was scared by the immensity of how much he felt. They had only ever made out. Magnus had never pushed. Then the war came, and after the war Magnus asked him on vacation to Europe, and Alec said yes. Alec had presumed they both understood that meant Alec was ready to go anywhere and do anything with Magnus. He was nervous, but he wanted to try all of it: having a future together, going as far as they could go, in every sense of the word.

Only Magnus had not made a move. Magnus was always so careful with Alec. In this case, Alec wished he was being less careful, because Alec was not very good at conversations, especially awkward conversations about feelings—which were all conversations about feelings—and he could not work out how to ask.

Surely Magnus wanted to. Didn’t he?

I’m very sure Magnus want to make a move! 🙂

Cassie also talked about co-writing her books with several authors and how each project is different:

I’ve always been interested in the cowriting process and how it works. Me and my friends have been talking about cowriting and I’m not entirely sure how the process functions. I’m really excited for the Red Scrolls of Magic and I’m wondering how it worked with you and Wes for The Eldest Curses?

I’m so glad that you guys are excited for and interested in Red Scrolls! Wes and I had a lot of fun writing it. People always are curious about the process of co-writing – and every process is individual: I write differently with all my co-writers as they’re different people. Holly and I write every scene together, trading the computer back and forth. Since Wes and I aren’t in the same place geographically. we can’t do that, and send each other pieces. I’m about to send Wes the first three full chapters of Lost Book of the White!

As regards Red Scrolls specifically, since Magnus and Alec are my creations and, well, I love ‘em, I took the lead on scenes that focus on their characters and their relationship. Wes took point on the creation of new characters I hope you will enjoy — most significantly a very interesting lady called Shinyun Jung — and delving into aspects of Magnus’ past and history. He also added a lot of richness and detail to the journey through Europe, as we wanted to create the feeling of a classic rom com caper like Charade, in which the scenery of Europe itself is a character. We’re both big travel buffs and that was a fun element for us.

With co-writing in the Shadowhunters world — as opposed to say, the co-writing I do with Holly — it’s important to me that the book strike a tone that matches the rest of the Shadowhunters world. I think you always see the prose style of the co-writer, too (my stories cowritten with Robin have a different feel than my stories written with Sarah, because we bring out different aspects of each other) but with everything cowritten in the Shadow World, I always go over the stories to create something that to me feels tonally in keeping with the whole canon. I always want my hands to be the last on the material, corny as that may sound!

What do you think of today’s snippet? Sound off in the comments below.

The Red Scrolls of Magic is published on April 2, 2019!