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5[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cp_author_photo_tor_pick_683x1024.png]]
6->''"I love telling stories and I love writing so the fact that I can do it professionally is something that I've always been very grateful for."''
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8Christopher Paolini (b. November 17, 1983) is an American writer best known as the author of the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', a series of HighFantasy DoorStopper novels.
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10Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Paradise Valley, Montana, Paolini was homeschooled as a child and graduated from high school at the age of 15 (through taking accredited correspondence courses). The latter fact became a significant selling point used in the marketing of his debut book and the first book in the Cycle, ''Literature/{{Eragon}}'', which he worked on from the ages of 15 to 19.
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12''Eragon'' was published [[UltimateJobSecurity by Paolini's parents]] before Alfred A. Knopf, a publishing company, picked it up. (His parents started an independent publishing company to produce the book; it is an UrbanLegend that they already owned one – a company the author describes as [[http://fantasy-faction.com/2012/christopher-paolini-interview "my parents, my sister and myself, sitting around our kitchen table"]].) To many people's surprise, it took off, mostly because of Creator/CarlHiaasen recommending it to Knopf after his stepson enjoyed the book, though fantastic marketing on behalf of Paolini and his family, such as months of visiting schools across the United States to promote the book (which he did in [[https://www.paolini.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/christopher-paolini-eragon-self-promotion.jpg "period" garb]]), played its part.
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14In the wake of the Cycle's success, Paolini has become quite the controversial figure. He has many fans, as well as many detractors, mostly due to having used many familiar ideas, plot points, and tropes; ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' are obvious influences.
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16In 2020, he published his first non-Cycle book, a ScienceFiction novel titled ''Literature/ToSleepInASeaOfStars''. A prequel, ''Literature/FractalNoise'', was published in 2023 as part of the ''[[TheVerse Fractalverse]]''.
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18!!Works by Paolini:
19[[index]]
20* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'':
21** ''Literature/{{Eragon}}'' (2003)
22** ''Eldest'' (2005)
23** ''Brisingr'' (2008)
24** ''Eragon's Guide to Alagaësia'' (2009)
25** ''Inheritance'' (2011)
26** ''Tales from Alagaësia Volume 1: Eragon - The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm'' (2018)
27** ''Murtagh'' (2023)
28* ''Fractalverse'':
29** ''Literature/ToSleepInASeaOfStars'' (2020)
30** ''Unity'' (2021)
31** ''Literature/FractalNoise'' (2023)[[/index]]
32* [[https://www.paolini.net/2015/02/16/began-books/ "It All Began with Books"]], ''Literature/GuysWriteForGuysRead'' (2005)
33----
34!!Tropes that appear in Paolini's fiction:
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36* AuthorAppeal: The elves, particularly Arya (whose beauty is oft-mentioned in the narration, and leaves Eragon in awe). However, Paolini says his favourite race is the dwarves; he often speaks a bit in Dwarvish when he goes to RealLife events.
37* AuthorAvatar: Paolini himself admits that Angela is based on his sister, and that Eragon "started out" as an autobiographical character but eventually developed into his own character. Interestingly, he claimed Eragon developed into his own by learning awesome swordplay and riding a dragon...so yeah, Eragon is just CP with WishFulfillment.
38* BigSisterWorship: Enough to name and base a pretty powerful and memorable secondary character after her.
39* CreatorsOddball: Most of his works are part of the ''Inheritance Cycle'', a young adult HighFantasy series. Then there's ''To Sleep in a Sea of Stars'', an adult-oriented hardcore science fiction novel.
40* {{Doorstopper}}: He tends to write rather long books; his debut novel alone has over 500 pages (the exact number varies depending on the edition). ''Brisingr'' was originally a hefty ''1500'' pages long before he realized it was too long and split it into two books(and they're both still over 800 pages long, ''each''). ''The Fork, the Witch and the Worm'', a collection of ''Inheritance Cycle'' short stories, is an outlier at just 288 pages.
41* ShownTheirWork: In regards to forging swords, especially. A big reason ''To Sleep...'' took nine years to finish is that he wanted to make sure everything he wrote was based upon real math and science.
42* TrilogyCreep: What was once a "Trilogy" is now a "Cycle."

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