CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

Just writing a lot doesn't necessarily make you a better writer. You have to hear yourself as a writer, and the best way to do that is to read your writing out loud.

I have 20 or 30 books completely plotted out in my mind - mysteries, thrillers, horror, romance, science fiction. You name it.

Basically, I would be happy with any profession where I got to be creative and make things.

I love telling stories and I love writing so the fact that I can do it professionally is something that I've always been very grateful for.

I've always been very grateful that enough people have enjoyed reading what I've written that I've been able to pursue writing professionally.

I had friends growing up; there were other home-schoolers we were in touch with so we weren't isolated, and I've always been happy engaged in my own projects and pursuing my own goals.

I built two forges when I was in my teens. I was just really, really into metalworking and making stuff.

If I spent my time worrying about what other people would think of my work, I would be too self-conscious to write.

I don't discuss my own beliefs in public, but I will say the beliefs I've given my characters do not necessarily represent what I myself believe.

I find inspiration in many places. Sometimes music gives me the kernel of a story. Sometimes it's dissatisfaction with the plot of a movie or a book that gets me thinking. Sometimes it's love of a movie or book.

Personally, I had a great education. My mum was a trained teacher, a Montessori teacher, and I know that I could not have written 'Eragon' if I had gone into a public school system because I would have just been too busy attending classes and doing homework - I wouldn't have had the time to write.

I've stood outside my house in Montana looking at the northern lights... crackling against the night sky. To me, that's magic.

The advantage of writing from experience is that it often provides you with details that you would never think of yourself, no matter how rich your imagination. And specificity in description is something every writer should strive for.

I'm the sort of person that starts digging a hole and doesn't stop until it's finished.

I think I learned most from editing, both editing myself and having someone else edit me. It's not always easy to have someone criticize your work, your baby. But if you can swallow your ego, you can really learn from the editing.

If you want to be a professional writer then you need to write consistently. Inspiration strikes about once every blue moon which, for me, is once every two and a half to three months, which is when I'll get really and truly inspired about something.

Fame or infamy, either one is preferable to being forgotten when you have passed from this realm.

There are decades in the making of the one man of renown; Multitudes that go unnoticed who must wreathe for him a crown.

May your swords stay sharp -Brom

Misfoutune always comes to those who wait. The trick is to find happiness in the breif gaps between distaters.

The debate raged on for so long, at last Saphira had interrupted with a roar that shook the walls of the command tent. Then she said, I am sore and tired, and Eragon is doing a poor job of explaining himself. We have better things to do than stand around yammering like jackdaws, no? ... Good now listen to me. It was reflected Eragon, hard to argue with a dragon.

Only men would think of cutting themselves to determine who the packleader is. Idiots.

Eragon. Is that all you say? Yes.

Eragon cried out, and in his desperation he reached for Saphira and the Eldunarí... and without meaning to, he drew from their stories of energy. And with that energy he cast a spell. It was a spell without words... His was a spell of instinct and emotion; language could not contain it.

It's impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.