At age 15, Christopher Paolini had no idea what was to come in the next few years. The story that he dreamt up and
so carefully plotted out would not only be self published within a
couple years with the help of his parents, but would sell more than 25 million copies
and earn him a Guinness World Record for the Youngest Author of a Best Selling Series once picked up by a publisher.
Paolini promoting the self published edition of Eragon
For many, the Inheritance Cycle is a story fondly remembered from childhood. Following the adventures of Eragon and his dragon Saphira as well as a myriad of other characters, millions have fallen in love with the series. One of the most important pieces of Paolini’s creative process and one of the biggest tips he gives is to make sure to know where the story is going. He recommends to outline the whole thing, but does note that outlining everything doesn’t always work for everyone. Paolini attributes his success in writing the Inheritance Cycle to this. He mentions that this was not his first attempt at writing, but the first one that stuck due to an understanding as to where the story was going. He also made a point to experience a lot of the things he was writing about, from camping in the mountains and chopping wood to forging his own knives and chainmail.
The full Inheritance Cycle with the newest addition
All of these little things seem to add up into one whole novel or series, and again they remind me of the “seeds” that Rick Rubin talks about in his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being. To me, this is just another way of looking at how “seeds” may differ from person to person.
Paolini’s first series may have won him a world record, but he has continued to write. Most recently, he published a long awaited addition to the Inheritance Cycle, Murtaugh. He has also begun work in The Fractalverse series which currently consists of two novels with more on the way.
https://www.paolini.net/biographies/christopher-paolini-full/
https://www.paolini.net/2014/11/12/thoughts-on-writing/
https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/pages/peptalk-paolini
https://www.paolini.net/2014/11/07/pub-eragon-rural-mt-nyt-bestseller/
Amelia, before reading your post I did not know anything about Paolini or his work. I am shocked that I find commonality with him, when I write I am constantly using outlines (sometimes my outlines have outlines), as a writer I like to be very organized! I also read Rubin’s book and I agree with you, this was all a foundation of Paolini and his work to come. Eragon does sound familiar, was it made into a movei at some point in time?
ReplyDeleteHey! Yes it was made in to a movie, but it did not live up to what many hoped it would be. From what I understand, most of the budget went towards CGI for the dragon and not much else. However it looks like it is being optioned by Disney to become something akin to the new Percy Jackson show!
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