When Christopher first read the manuscript he was appalled to discover how poorly it was written. It took him a year to write the first draft of Eragon. Many readers find great connections from his characters to others in other fantasy works, but Christopher maintains that they are from his imagination. All the characters in Eragon are from Christopher's imagination, with the exception of Angela the herbalist, who is a lampoon of his sister.

He wrote the first sixty pages in longhand, after which he learned to type, though he sometimes found the story flowed better by hand. He took a month to plot out the entire cycle, then sat on the sofa and began writing in a notebook. The project began as a hobby he never intended to be published. Christopher wanted to try his hand at telling a story that included all the things he enjoyed in other fantasy novels. The story of Eragon began as the daydreams of a teen. The final battle of Eragon was written while listening to Carmina Burana. Inspiration and Creation of the Inheritance Cycle Ĭhristopher grew up listening to a variety of music, but classical music fired his imagination and helped him write. Eddison, David Eddings, and Ursula Le Guin. Feist's Magician, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, as well as books by Anne McCaffrey, Jane Yolen, Brian Jacques, E. Some of his favorite books were Bruce Colville's Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, Frank Herbert's Dune, Raymond E. He made frequent trips to the library and read widely. A few years ago, Christopher hiked to the top of one peak and could see the Grand Teton mountain range, 100 miles to the south.Ĭhristopher was homeschooled by his parents, often writing short stories and poems in attempt to put his thoughts into words. Snowcapped most of the year, they inspired the fantastic scenery in Eragon. The tall, jagged Beartooth Mountains rise on one side of the Paradise Valley. They have two pets: Otis, a black and white cat, and Annie, a frisky cocker/Australian shepherd mix. He currently lives with his parents and younger sister, Angela, in a rustic, two-story farmhouse on the banks of the Yellowstone River. He was homeschooled for all of his younger years and graduated from high school at the age of 15 through an accredited correspondence course at American School, Chicago, Illinois. Aside from a couple of years in Anchorage, Alaska, he has spent his entire life in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he still resides. Christopher PaoliniĬhristopher Paolini was born on November 17, 1983, in Southern California. I always imagined myself actually being smart or something. 2 Inspiration and Creation of the Inheritance Cycle.

Inheritance cycle book 3