Christopher Paolini's Fantasy Fiction Challenge

Christopher

He’s been writing since he was a kid: first for his school magazine, then in public schools. Then at the University of South Carolina Graduate School in Columbia and now on this very website. And he even wrote fantasy here, too: The Midnight Library, The Shadow-Pale Manor, both originally published by Jonathan Cape. His short story collection, Tumbleweed and Other Stories, comes from that same series. (The titles were inspired by “the small kingdom I would always want to live in. A dark and mysterious one that everyone will never know about except me, and only through my secret writing. There is something magical about it, and mystical.”)

Paolini’s other books include the postmodern zombie novel Stalked By Gods, which made him famous when it appeared out of nowhere. Now there’s also The Dark Tower, an epic space opera set in medieval England inspired by Paolini’s own childhood in Sicily. Finally, Paolini has written two long novels – each three years in length. It seems like there’s no end to his mind.

Paolini told us how writing in the dark during the pandemic changed everything. Writing while being scared seemed to liberate him from much of what he feared. Sometimes you get a little crazy around those spooky stories about ghosts living among humans; others just come easier. But either way, the process itself is liberating in a strange way, as well as scary. For instance, Paolini says that he went almost completely insane making himself into giant zombies, all the time. When we ask him why he did this, he laughs and explains, “I didn't really have any idea what I wanted to write. So I was just going off anything that happened or was going to happen or had happened to me—and doing them, in some cases literally!”

Paolini likes fiction best of all genres, but he does often work with poetry. We asked him about another thing he loves to do: “Weird shit.” In fact, he describes how his wife called him every day in January 2021 while they were trying to get their house back in shape after Hurricane Ida ravaged the Caribbean region. “I didn’t call her back until August. They had four days of storm from Monday to Tuesday and so her phone fell off. Because she was sleeping on the couch and couldn't reach mine! Anyway.”

He says the weather was terrible for such a big place. “I have always said that if I could turn back the clock and not go to Florida like everybody else, where we had flooding and mudslides, I would do that. This, of course, means I would say yes to anything. All I want is to be able to make up our living space and have better conditions for ourselves. If that's good enough for a writer... then I'm all for it.”

Like many writers in New York City who are lucky enough to live close to Lake George, he finds inspiration in nearby places he visits each year. The area is beautiful, full of old churches and mansions and lots of nature. Here, more than anywhere else, he feels that life can still be exciting. “I look at this land, these trees, this sky and think, this must be paradise. That's pretty romantic. People might say things like 'Wow, this is nice.' Or even 'Wow, this is boring. Can you imagine living here? Can you really think of anything worse?' That's probably because I've lived here for 10 years, but there's nothing boring about this place. It's fascinating. Especially when it rains.”

One thing I noticed about Paolini is that unlike most writers, he doesn't believe in “the rules.” Of course, he can be vague about it: “I don't mean to sound critical but I just think sometimes rules get in the way of creativity, getting the truth. What if I start a sentence and realize I need to rearrange it or rephrase it or find a different way to express myself? Do these rules exist? Is there anyone else who's done that? You may feel uncomfortable about the answer, but I think I know. I’ve certainly thought many weird things over the years, so I don’t really care what anyone thinks. How right I am about that.”

We all know people who love reading but don't see themselves doing it because they're afraid they'll be judged. Well, maybe some of us do actually do care, but maybe some aren't. Either way, it sounds interesting to hear what sort of experiences motivated Paolini to becoming a writer. Perhaps he did write the book you are currently holding in your hands, maybe you've read his story collections before and you're wondering what's next? Maybe these questions inspired all of his fiction? Whatever the case, we definitely like listening to whatever new kind of thinking we get. And we can't wait to try our hand at more Paolini.

He says the weather was terrible for such a big place. “I have always said that if I could turn back the clock and not go to Florida like everybody else, where we had flooding and mudslides, I would do that. This, of course, means I would say yes to anything. All I want is to be able to make up our living space and have better conditions for ourselves. If that's good enough for a writer... then I'm all for it.”

Like many writers in New York City who are lucky enough to live close to Lake George, he finds inspiration in nearby places he visits each year. The area is beautiful, full of old churches and mansions and lots of nature. Here, more than anywhere else, he feels that life can still be exciting. “I look at this land, these trees, this sky and think, this must be paradise. That's pretty romantic. People might say things like 'Wow, this is nice.' Or even 'Wow, this is boring. Can you imagine living here? Can you think of anything worse?' That's probably because I've lived here for 10 years, but nothing is boring about this place. It's fascinating. Especially when it rains.”

One thing I noticed about Paolini is that, unlike most writers, he doesn't believe in “the rules.” Of course, he can be vague about it: “I don't mean to sound critical but I just think sometimes rules get in the way of creativity, getting the truth. What if I start a sentence and realize I need to rearrange it or rephrase it or find a different way to express myself? Do these rules exist? Is there anyone else who's done that? You may feel uncomfortable about the answer, but I think I know. I’ve certainly thought many weird things over the years, so I don’t care what anyone thinks. How right I am about that.”

We all know people who love reading but don't see themselves doing it because they're afraid they'll be judged. Well, maybe some of us do care, but maybe some aren't. Either way, it sounds interesting to hear what sort of experiences motivated Paolini to become a writer. Perhaps he did write the book you are currently holding in your hands, maybe you've read his story collections before and you're wondering what's next? Maybe these questions inspired all of his fiction. Whatever the case, we like listening to whatever new kind of thinking we get. And we can't wait to try our hand at more Paolini.