Dragon Slayer

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At 15, Christopher Paolini began writing Eragon, a fantasy story about a boy and a dragon in a war-torn world called Alagaësia. To date, his Inheritance book series—which also includes Eldest and Brisingr—has sold more than 22 million copies. No release date has been set for the fourth and final book in the series, but fantasy fans still have reason to be excited: Eragon’s Guide to Alagaësia will hit bookstores on November 3. Paolini, now 25, spoke to Current Events student reporter Sarah Rothenberger about his mythical world.

Sarah Rothenberger: How did you create the world of Alagaësia?
Christopher Paolini: I worked out the story for the series before I began Eragon, and I worked out some of the details of the world. … As I worked on each of the books, I continued to flesh out all those different areas of the world, plus many more. So, it’s a combination of planning in advance and then allowing myself some freedom to invent and explore things as I’m actually writing the books.
 
SR: What excites you most about Eragon’s Guide to Alagaësia?
CP: The thing that really got me excited about the project, and the reason I agreed to it in the first place, was getting to share some the paintings and drawings and other images of various scenes and places, and even characters from the books, with the readers. I’ve been working on this series for over 10 years now, and I’ve been thinking about these characters and places for a long time, so to have a chance to share that with readers was really exciting for me. … I enjoyed working on it, because it gave me a change to sort of step aside from the main series and write a piece that is written essentially as a letter from Eragon to you, the reader. And that was really fun to put it all into Eragon’s voice.

SR: What do you think your fans will enjoy the most in Eragon’s Guide to Alagaësia?
CP: Well, hopefully the art. … But probably the main thing is the fact that the book collects a lot of information into one place that’s never been collected before. … This book pulls all the pieces together about the histories of the races, and where they live, and what they are, and what they look like. And I took the opportunity—I couldn’t resist—to drop in a couple of clues into the book about the future of the story, and where Eragon ends up.

SR: What can you tell us about the fourth book in the Inheritance series?
CP: Not much, because if I tell you anything more than the fact I’m working on it, I’ll have to start giving away story points. … It’s going to have a green dragon on the cover, which I’m actually very much looking forward to seeing ... Of course, it’s going to conclude Eragon and Saphira’s adventures. But I’m doing my best to make sure it’s the best book in the series, and I hope that fans are going to feel the same way about it.

SR: Did you always want to be an author?  
CP: No, I didn’t. … What I really wanted to be doing was riding dragons and fighting monsters and having adventures and doing all the stuff that Eragon gets to do. … So writing was for me just a way of exploring those daydreams and exploring those fantasies and telling a good story that I hoped other people would enjoy.

SR: What advice would you give to young kids like me who love to write?
CP: First of all would be to read. I don’t think you can write a good book unless you read a lot of books … Write about what you find the most interesting or what you enjoy the most yourself. … And of course, persistence. Sit down and write every single day.
 

Comments

[erika]

love eragon the movie.

[joe]

Bla, bla, bla!
When's book 4 coming out?