The vision and triumph of christopher paolini

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI (Author) was born on November 17, 1983 inSouthern California. Aside from a few years in Anchorage, Alaska, he spent his entirelife in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he still lives with his parents and younger sister,Angela. They have two pets, Otis, a black and white cat, and Annie, a friskycocker/Australian shepherd mix.Tall, jagged Beartooth Mountains rise on one side of the Paradise Valley.Snowcapped most of the year, they inspired the fantastic scenery in Eragon. A few yearsago, Paolini hiked to the top of one peak and could see the Grand Teton mountain range,100 miles to the south.Paolini was homeschooled by his parents. He often wrote short stories and poemsin an attempt to put his thoughts into words. He made frequent trips to the library andread widely. Some of his favorite books were Bruce Coville's Jeremy Thatcher, DragonHatcher, Frank Herbert's Dune, Raymond E. Feist's Magician, and Philip Pullman's HisDark Materials, as well as books by Anne McCaffrey, Jane Yolen, Brian Jacques, E. R.Eddison, David Eddings, and Ursula Le Guin.Paolini grew up listening to a variety of music, but classical music fired hisimagination and helped him write. He often listened to Mahler, Beethoven, and Wagnerwhile writing Eragon. The final battle of Eragon was written while listening to“Carmina Burana,” by Carl Orff.The story of Eragon began as the daydreams of a teen. Paolini's love for themagic of stories led him to craft a novel that he would enjoy reading. The project beganas a hobby; he never intended to be published. He took a month to plot out the entiretrilogy, then sat on the sofa and began writing in a notebook. When he reached sixtypages, he gained enough confidence to transfer his work to his Macintosh computer,where most of Eragon was written, although he sometimes found that the story flowedbetter when he wrote by hand. All the characters in Eragon are from Paolini'simagination except Angela the herbalist, who is loosely based on his sister.It took him a year to write the first draft of Eragon. He took a second year torevise the book and then gave it to his parents to read. The family decided to self-publishthe book and so a third year was spent with another round of edits, designing a cover,24
typesetting the manuscript, and creating marketing materials. During this time Paolinidrew the map for Eragon, as well as the dragon eye that appears inside the hardcoveredition. Finally, the manuscript was sent to press, and the first books arrived.The Paolini family spent the next year promoting the book themselves.Beginning with presentations at the local library and high school, they then traveledacross the U.S. In all, Paolini gave over 135 presentations at libraries, bookstores, andschools in 2002 and early 2003. He did most of the presentations dressed in a medievalcostume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap.In summer 2002, author Carl Hiaasen, whose stepson had bought and devoured acopy of the self-published book while on vacation in Montana, brought Eragon to theattention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, who subsequentlyacquired the rights to publish Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance trilogy. Knopfpublished Eragon in August 2003 and Eldest, Book Two in Inheritance, in August 2005.Eragon, which has been published in 41 countries, has been a #1 bestseller in both itsAlfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers hardcover and paperback editions and hasspent 164 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.Eldest hit the marketplace in August 2005 as one of the most anticipated books ofthe fall season, and its first week on sale achieved the biggest single-week sale inRandom House Children’s Books history. Currently in its 15 th printing, Eldest, also a #1bestseller, has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for 60 weeks, and has beenpublished in 41 countries. Most recently, Eldest won a 2006 Quill Award. Together,Eragon and Eldest have sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.Paolini is currently writing Book Three in Inheritance, the title of which has notyet been announced. Once the trilogy is completed, Paolini plans to take a long vacation,when he will ponder which of his many story ideas he will write next.GIL NETTER (Executive Producer) has also produced the features “A Walk inthe Clouds,” “High School High,” “BASEketball,” “Dude, Where’s My Car?” “PhoneBooth,” “My Boss’s Daughter,” the Farrelly Brothers comedy “Fever Pitch,” and“Flicka.”25
Page 1 and 2: ERAGON, a fantasy adventure for you
Page 3 and 4: would look at me in terms of the vi
Page 5 and 6: what was happening on camera. “Je
Page 7 and 8: SAPHIRAERAGON’s distinguished cas
Page 9 and 10: elow. The ground battle, involving
Page 11 and 12: “We developed Saphira in a physic
Page 13 and 14: ERAGON CHARACTER PROFILESERAGONErag
Page 15 and 16: ABOUT THE CASTED SPELEERS (Eragon),
Page 17 and 18: SIENNA GUILLORY (Arya) is best know
Page 19 and 20: He then landed a starring role oppo
Page 21 and 22: (2000), “The Loner” (2001), “
Page 23: Among Davis’ other major theatric
Page 27 and 28: In the past decade Kroeger designed

The vision and triumph of christopher paolini

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?