BOOK MUSING: The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare

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So today I’m thinking about Cassandra Clare as an author, and specifically about her Dark Artifices series.
 
And I’ve dribbled down some of those thoughts here.
On my blog.

Because that’s what I do!

My experiences with Cassandra Clare novels have really hugely changed over the years.
 
I originally read her Mortal Devices series about Clary and Jace and the gang back when they first came out.
And you know what?

I remember them being addictive, and I remember loving all the kissing scenes, and I also remember being so utterly squicked out by all the faux incest that I just COULD NOT DEAL.
Like I felt weird from enjoying the addictive romance but also the fact that sometimes they kissed while truly believing they were related was beyond yuck to me.
 
 
I sort of just filed those books in the back of my mind and never re-visited and felt I really wasn’t that into Cassandra Clare but now, well, ... now!!
Oh my gosh.

I have learned that she is such a clever author and so utterly in control of her brand that I cannot help but admire the shit out of her.
I totally get why she is so famous, why her books are so adored, why there is fanart and fanfiction galore.
The woman is magic.
 
And why?
 
Because of the way she writes romance.
It is freaking addictive.
It is also indulgent and dramatic and everyone in these books is so goddamn pretty and I just think she has found this corner of the writing world and she is so smart and she knows exactly what she’s doing.
 
So while I have very much been enjoying reading the Clockwork series, for me it is the Dark Artifices series that has fully given me an whole new viewpoint on the wonders of Cassandra Clare as an author.
And truly, these days I admire her so much.
 
And mostly, she has got me wondering..... how does she do that?

How does she make her romances more delicious and addictive than others?
Why I am I reaching for the next book in her series when I barely care what’s going on with the plot?
Why am I hanging off every word describing all these beautiful people walking around and getting themselves in danger and being secretly and agonisingly in love with each other?
 
I freaking want to know.
 
So I guess I’ve been thinking about it, because it is my dream to write romance that is this addictive.
 
How do you write addictive romance?

I have isolated the following stuff Cassandra Clare generally does seem to do in her books, and I think these things totally hoodwink me into being sucked into her worlds:
 
You pick up her stories, you KNOW you are going to get some of the following:
 
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• Love triangles, people say love triangles are shit, but frankly a good love triangle is addictive as hell! I completely love them.
• Forbidden romance = agonising, excruciating longing for each other....sigh. (that was a good sigh, not a sarcastic one by the way)
• Romance or feelings that must be kept secret from everyone around them
• Multiple romances (or potential brewing romances), so there is always tension and potential couple angst in practically every single scene
• Multiple POVs so we can examine said romances from every single angle.
• Lots of really super romantic descriptions of the characters checking each other out (starlight dusted his eyelashes and his hair shone like the darkest night etc. etc.)
• You cannot go more than, like, five chapters without having a really long heavily descriptive kissing scene that will most definitely include something about stars soaring in the sky
• And here is the absolute clincher: Of course, each kissing scene never ever actually resolves any of the tension between the characters (because as soon as the characters are together and happy, the addictive nature of their romance loses all its focus) and instead, each kissing scene just winds you up waiting for the next one
• Um... all the kissing scenes are kind of like erotica light? Am I right in saying this? Very high sexual tension, lot’s of heavy descriptions but just never quite going over the line into sexually explicit, but always almost...almost ...

 
 
Look, it may sound like I am making fun of this stuff but I am seriously not.

I love addictive romantic novels, and I am obsessed with writing, and I think Cassandra Clare is so in control of her romantic writing!
I am impressed! 
​:)
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