Christopher+Paolini

Christophe Paolini is one of the greatest fantasy writers of his time. He is the author of the Inheritance Cycle (trilogy formally) which includes Eragon, Eldest, Brisigr, and the yet to be named 4th book. He has created a whole knew look on elves, dwarves, dragons, and dragon riders. He has even created new creatures like urgals, raz’ac, and he has even gone into a creature that few people ever hear about, werecats. Christopher Paolini can capture your mind and take it to a dangerous, beautiful, adventurous land, where dragons fly in the skies and elves sing and dance in the forests. =Who is Christopher Paolini?= Christopher Paolini is the author of the Inheritance cycle, Eragon, Eldest, and Brisigr. He “was born November 17, 1983 in Paradise Valley, Montana” where he spent most of his life. (“Author”) He was homeschooled all his life. Since he was homeschooled he was able to “work at his own pace”, which lead to him completing K-12th grade when he was fifteen years old. His parents didn’t want to send him off to college at such a young age, so Christopher had a lot of time to spare, so he began writing. He wanted to write a story that he would like to read, so he started planning and later writing Eragon. (Martin) Growing up some of his “favorite books were Bruce Coville's JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER, Frank Herbert's DUNE, and Raymond E. Feist's MAGICIAN, as well as books by Anne McCaffrey, Jane Yolen, Brian Jacques, E.R. Eddison, David Eddings, and Ursula K. Le Guin”(“Author”). He admires those who have the perseverance to finish a book, but hi greatest heroes are his parent. Once he has finished the Inheritance Cycle he plans to take a long vacation, and decide which of his many story ideas to write next. They include anything “from science fiction to horror to thriller to mystery to romance.” (Cahill) =How does he write?= Christopher Paolini has a very unique way of writing. Unlike most authors, he actually plans out the entire book before writing so he is free to concentrate on presenting in the best way possible. He spent an entire month planning out Eragon and three books (was two books) following it in the Inheritance Cycle. Before he even started writing he studies books on stories characters and plots to get an idea on how to structure the story he was going to write. (Martin) Even when he is not writing he is planning the next part he’s going to write in the book. The reason he writes fantasy is because he loves reading fantasy, because “through fantasy, you can experience things that would be otherwise impossible.” And since planned out the series beforehand he realized that the plot was two big to fit in just three books so he started planning a fourth book that has yet to be released. When writing he has moments where seem to come alive and “act of their own will.” When that happens he feels the writing process creates “a sense of danger and excitement.” (Cahill) Writing has become one of his biggest passions.

=What inspires him?= Inspiration follows Christopher Paolini everywhere he goes, whether he’s walking, listening to music, watching a movie, just reading a book. His ideas usually “happen as a result of taking two seemingly disparate objects or concepts and combining them in a way that I have not encountered before.” (Cahill) The place he grew up in, Paradise Valley, Montana, inspired a lot of his scenery in the Inheritance Cycle. All of his characters come from his imagination, except for Angela the herbalist, who is loosely based on his sister. (“Author”) Music helps him a lot in both writing and inspiration. Music, especially classical music, helps him “decipher and condense the multitude of sights, sounds, smells, and passions that are” swirling around in his head. Classical music seems to work best when he needs “inspiration when writing a scene in the story.” When he gets writers block, he finds that walking or doing some sort of exercise helps get rid of it. He may even go to his family, editor, or agent “if something in the book is giving him trouble.” (Cahill) =How did he get published?= “Eragon began as daydreams as a kid.” He started writing Eragon after several failed attempts in writing other stories. When Christopher Paolini started writing Eragon he had no intension of getting it published, but when his parents read it they encouraged him to publish it. It took him a year to finish writing Eragon, and another year to edit it. Christopher and his parents decided to self publish the book, which lead to “a third year of preparing the manuscript for publication,” soon after the manuscript was sent to the press and arrived in stared in November 2001. In 2002 an author by the name of Carl Hiaasen, brought the story to the attention of his publisher Alfred A. Knopf, who is part of Random House Publishing. Knopf had his executive editor, Michelle Frey, contact Christopher and his family to see if the we willing to sign on with Knopf. (“Author”) Knopf signed Christopher to a six figure, three-book contract, and was making plans to publish Eragon. =Work Cited.=
 * "Author Profile: Christopher Paolini." Teenreads.com. Ed. Tom Donadio and Marisa Emralino. Carol Fitzgerald, 2003. Web. 16 Apr. 2010.
 * Cahill, Bryon and Christopher Paolini. "Magic and DRagons And WRiting ... Oh, My! " Writing 1 Jan. 2007: Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 11 May. 2010.
 * Martin, Philip. "How I write: Christopher Paolini. " The Writer 1 Mar. 2004: Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 11 May. 2010.

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