What eventually emerged was Eragon, a story deliberately set with the archetypal ingredients of a fantasy book.

After a year, he was ready to show his parents his first editors and critics.īefore finishing high school 2002, Paolini began his reworking on the first in a series of fantasy stories set in his imaginative kingdom. He planned out the whole series in a few months and started on his first draft of the first book, which would set the tone, scope and theme of the entire trilogy he had in mind. When Christopher realized he really wanted to write like his favorite authors, he studied everything he could about the craft of good writing, particularly fantasy fiction for young adults. For setting, Paolini only had to look at his natural surroundings, as he hand drew the maps that would grace his books and become the mythical land of Alagaesia. Stories about elves raising dragons is inherent in Frank Herbert’s influences as well. Paolini’s first book, Eragon, was specifically inspired by the work of Bruce Coville.

Tolkien, well acclaimed author of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and the author of the epic poem Beowulf E.R.Eddison. Christopher and his younger sister Angela were homeschooled by their parents: Talita Hodgkinson and Kenneth Paolini, and at the young age of fifteen, Christopher graduated from high school through correspondence education.Ĭhristopher’s love of literature developed from J.R.R. All his life he was raised in this idyllic setting.

This is how Christopher Paolini emerged as a writer, coupled with his love of adventurous epic stories. Growing up in the majestic beauty of Paradise Valley, Montana, it is easy to see how a young imaginative mind would be influenced to write of a mythical community bound by natural surroundings.

Eldest eragon series