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Turning Daydreams Into a Best-Seller

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At 15, Christopher Paolini began writing a story about a teenage boy and his dragon. That story became Eragon, a New York Times best-seller and soon-to-be motion picture. A second book, Eldest, reached stores in August. Paolini, now 21, spoke with Upfront about being a published author.

What's the hardest part of writing?
Sitting down every morning and writing. It's very easy for me to come up with story ideas; but it's having to just work at it consistently.

Were you surprised at the popularity of Eragon?
Very surprised. I just tried to write a story that I would enjoy reading myself, and I was lucky enough to write something that other people enjoyed as well.

What are the major themes that you deal with?
Some of the themes are the difficulty of deciding how to live honorably and how to deal with violence when it intrudes on someone's life. And of course friendship is a large theme in the story.

Is it true that you once disliked reading?
I didn't understand what the point was. Eventually, I found a book at the local library that I enjoyed. Once that happened—once that spark of magic occurred, and once I got sucked into someone else's world and someone else's story—I became addicted to books.