Christopher Paolini

28/06/2012 by David Maybury · No Comments

Christopher Paolini dropped by Inis on his way through Dublin – and we got the chance to quiz him about The Inheritance Cycle. We let our own Über fan Taylor Philips quiz Christopher.

Has there been any musical inspiration throughout your writing process?

I am so glad you asked that! No one asks that. I LOVE music and I am inspired by a lot of music in a lot of different ways. I listen to music when I write, so I listen to a lot of classical or movie soundtracks.  In terms of soundtracks, the original Conan the Barbarian is a great one, the Waterworld soundtrack, The 13th Warrior, Lord of the Rings of course, a lot of Hans Zimmer, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, etc.  I also like some more oddball stuff like Indian pan pipe music. For me, it sounds very much the way I would imagine the mood in Ellesméra- for me that’s like elf music. And when I want something dwarvish, I go and I listen to Russian liturgical music sung by Basso Profundo singers! Music is very important to me.

Can I ask about the film adaptation of Eragon?  A lot of fans were really disappointed in the movie, what were your feelings about it? 

I am very happy that the movie was made because it introduced a lot of new readers to the series and I think that’s a good thing. I gave as much input as I could into the film, but ultimately the studio and the director made the version of the story they wanted to make, and I made the version I wanted in the books.  I would very much hope to see a reboot, or a sequel, or some sort of continuation of the film franchise. The books have their own voice, and a lot of the concerns/issues in the cycle aren’t addressed in those other stories: a lot of concern with responsibility, power, morality, adventure, and having a lot of fun fights and things like that.

The series was supposed to be a trilogy – how do the books differ now there are four?

I never planned to have four books but I think that in the long run it was necessary to give the characters the time to mature in a way that wouldn’t have been possible if I had tried to cram it all into just three books.  The fourth book has more battles than the first three combined - it was a little difficult writing that sometimes where you’re spending days and days thinking about violence and fighting and that can get to you and put you in a weird space sometimes. The fourth book is definitely its own beast.

And the the last word...

I think readers have come to realize something about me - which was not apparent with the first book, and maybe not even the second - I lay the groundwork for many things in the stories, and there are things in the stories which still haven’t been revealed - I play a very long game.