"In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf." — Christopher Paolini.
"I have visions of lizards. Not just little rock lizards, or even something as big as an alligator, no ? I see gigantic, majestic flying dragons. I have visions of them all the time, whether in the shower, sitting on the couch or riding in the car. The problem with seeing dragons is that they tend to take over your mind. And once that happens, you can go a little crazy. Which is probably why I became a published author at eighteen." — Christopher Paolini.
"All fantasy is derivative." — Christopher Paolini.
Christopher Paolini is the author of
The Inheritance Cycle, a series of
Door Stopper novels. He finished writing the first book,
Eragon, at the age of nineteen. It was published
by his parents before Knopf, a publishing company, picked it up. To many people's surprise, it took off.
A homeschooled Montana native, he's 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;
Star Wars,
The Lord of the Rings, and
Dragonriders of Pern are obvious influences.
Tropes that apply to Mr. Paolini (or at least appear to):
- Author Appeal: 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 Real Life events.
- Author Avatar: 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.
- Author Vocabulary Calendar: Unfortunately, it doesn't come with definitions. He thinks that descending upwards makes sense.
- Big Sister Worship: Enough to name and base a pretty powerful and memorable secondary character after her. May or may not be cleverly subverting it though, as many consider Angela in the books to be a Jerk Sue who does nothing but insult everyone around her, and even the fans who do like her can name several other characters who wish to do her injury and can sympathize with why they do.
- Fandom / Fan Dumb: He has a sizable one.
- Jossed: Christopher Paolini officially stomped on the theory that the sapphire in Aren is the Eldunari of Brom's dragon.
- Proud to Be a Geek
- Purple Prose: His writing style.
- Serious Business: The Internet Backdraft regarding him can get this way.
- Shown Their Work: In regards to forging swords, especially.
- Teasing Creator
- Trilogy Creep: What was once a "Trilogy" is now a "Cycle."
- Ultimate Job Security: His parents owned the first company that published his work.
- Vanity Publishing: See above.
- Word Of God: Christopher Paolini answers a lot of questions about the Cycle, mostly in interviews.
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