Bellingham Bulletin April 2024

April 2024 Find us on Facebook | bellinghambulletin Page 5
20 Years of Dragon-Riding:
Bestselling Author Christopher Paolini
Discusses His Work
By Jennifer Russo
The latest event in the Library
Speakers Consortium series,
Author Talks, was an exciting
journey into the magical and
misunderstood world of dragons.
Christoper Paolini, bestselling
author of young adult literature
series favorite “The Inheritance
Cycle” (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr,
Inheritance) and now its sequel,
Murtagh, delighted webinar viewers
with answers to questions regarding
the world of dragons he
has developed over the last 20+
years.
Paolini started working on the
first book in the series, Eragon,
when he was only fifteen. He
credits hard work and luck for its
publication. He shared the story
about how after self-publishing
the novel initially and going into
libraries and schools to sell them,
Carl Hiaasen (author of Hoot
and other works) happened to
be in Montana and purchased
a copy for his then 12-year-old
son, who loved it. Carl then recommended
the book to Random
House and things unfurled from
there. Though Scholastic also
offered to pick up the book, he
did elect to sign with Random
House.
“It was the right choice. I
had found out after the fact that
Chip Gibson, who was the head
of the Children’s department at
the time, basically chose to use
Eragon as something to rally the
troops, and I was the very fortunate
recipient of that love and attention,”
he shares.
Paolini also creates all of the
maps and interior art for all of
his books and discussed that he
spends a lot of time on “world
building” so that everything in
the story ties together in a cohesive
and seamless way, to better
help the reader understand all of
the elements of the characters
and surroundings.
When asked how he keeps the
many details of his worlds, languages
and characters straight
when he is writing, Paolini shared
that he has a team of assistants
that he hired to develop a private
Wikipedia page that houses
everything to make it easier for
him, but he also advises new
writers to keep things straight
using databases and spreadsheets
if they are complex enough.
When asked by an audience
member what the architype of
dragon means to him and how
it plays out in the story line, his
response was two-fold.
“Dragons represent both a
creative and destructive force
– and mythologically they are
linked to the creation, destruction
or even the health of the
land,” he shares. “Also, you know
things are about to get serious in
any story when a dragon shows
up.”
Discussing his latest book,
Murtagh, the author shares the
reason behind giving the character
his own story.
“Murtagh is one of the main
characters of the “Inheritance
Cycle” series, but we don’t see a
lot of him after the first book –
we really only see him appearing
as a villain and I felt that there
was an opportunity to rectify
that and show what was happening
at that time. Plus, with 2023
being the 20th anniversary of the
release of the first book, I really
wanted to have it done as a part
of that.”
To learn more about Christopher,
his new book and the rest
of his works, visit his website at
www.paolini.net and for more
information on upcoming Author
Talks events, go to https://
libraryc.org/bellinghamma/upcoming.