Cassandra Clare had just moved to New York when suddenly her new hometown was ripped apart by the events of 9/11. Wandering the blackened streets in despair, the Iranian-born author never dreamed that the story the tragedy inspired her to write would someday become a best-selling teen novel series - and now a highly-anticipated film saga.
"It was right before the Twin Towers fell and suddenly there was this huge crisis that came upon the city," says Clare, on the eve of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones premiering on the big screen. "As I walked around experiencing the grief, the 'missing' posters and ashes everywhere I started to think: 'This is why we make up stories about superheroes - because we dream that there will be people who are more powerful than we are, who can protect us.
"I decided I'd like to write a modern-day superhero story with aspects of mythology but thought it'd be great to do one about a girl. We have so much stuff for boys that says, 'You can be a hero,' and 'This is how you learn to be a man,' so I thought why not do, 'You can be a heroine'?''
The resulting story centres on Clary Fray, a teenager living in New York who finds her life overthrown when her solo mother - who is secretly a demon-fighter known as a Shadowhunter - is abducted. Setting out to find and rescue her, Clary starts to uncover her own powers.
