Christopher Paolini is working on a sci fi novel

[Stinkhole]

I liked the first book in that Eragon series. Looks like his new work is going to be a science fiction work,

http://www.paolini.net/books/sci-fi-project/

Do you guys think he will improve as a writer?

 

What are your predictions? Eragon was star wars based in middle earth. Will this be the plot of the Hobbit based in a Star Wars (or maybe even Star Trek) type universe?

[SkynJay]

Dann it.  I was going to make a lackluster joke about him already writing a Star Wars novel and you included it right in your post.

So I got nothing.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Paolini's problem is that he never went through the rejection stage that all writers go through. He's never had someone tell him his work isn't good enough, and needs to be re-worked. Thanks to the publisher, he's had no incentive to improve.

Quite sad, really. Or would be were it not for the fact that this guy is a multi-millionaire, and comes across as an utter twat.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Thanks for the warning!

[Stinkhole]

Paolini's problem is that he never went through the rejection stage that all writers go through. He's never had someone tell him his work isn't good enough, and needs to be re-worked. Thanks to the publisher, he's had no incentive to improve.

Quite sad, really. Or would be were it not for the fact that this guy is a multi-millionaire, and comes across as an utter twat.

Could you elaborate a bit on the highlighted portion?

I've seen a few interviews with him and he seems like an ok enough guy. Really nerdy and awkward but nothing too offensive.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Perhaps twat is too harsh a term, but when you read lines like:

“In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf.”

And

"One of the great pleasures of these novels has been watching Rowling's storytelling skills develop. And she certainly spreads her wings in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

It rather grates, because it indicates a severely overblown regard for his own writing.

[Darth Richard II]

No, I think twat is fairly on the mark.

[fionwe1987]

Perhaps twat is too harsh a term

 

Too harsh? Twat is being too kind to him.

Frankly, he always reads like a spoilt child who grew up and didn't realize he isn't all that special. 

[Magnar of Skagos]

Oh man, this thread is too good 

Not a big sci-fi fan so I probably won't check this out. Haven't read Paolini in over 10 years. Forgot how bad his writing really is.

[SeanF]

Perhaps twat is too harsh a term, but when you read lines like:

“In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf.”

And

"One of the great pleasures of these novels has been watching Rowling's storytelling skills develop. And she certainly spreads her wings in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

It rather grates, because it indicates a severely overblown regard for his own writing.

He really said the first?  It's not a parody?

That's like the interview that Jeffrey Archer gave,  comparing himself to Dostoyevsky.

[HexMachina]

He really said the first?  It's not a parody?

That's like the interview that Jeffrey Archer gave,  comparing himself to Dostoyevsky.

Shows up on the radomhouse website

[SeanF]

Shows up on the radomhouse website

Someone who writes that is just asking for hostile criticism.

I far prefer George Martin's comment that when he read Robert Howard, he thought that if he really worked hard, he could write as well.  Then, when he read Tolkien, he thought there's no way he could write like that.

[Spockydog]

Perhaps twat is too harsh a term, but when you read lines like:

“In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf.”

And

"One of the great pleasures of these novels has been watching Rowling's storytelling skills develop. And she certainly spreads her wings in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

It rather grates, because it indicates a severely overblown regard for his own writing.

What a bellend. 

[HexMachina]

Apparently he also did a foreword for a Steinbeck novel. Admittedly it was one that is supposed to be pretty problematic (other than Mice and Men I'm not too familiar with Steinbeck so I don't know what the problems are) but still. 

[SeanF]

Apparently he also did a foreword for a Steinbeck novel. Admittedly it was one that is supposed to be pretty problematic (other than Mice and Men I'm not too familiar with Steinbeck so I don't know what the problems are) but still. 

Did he indicate that Steinbeck is a lesser writer than he is?

[The Marquis de Leech]

The Steinbeck novel is this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Acts-King-Arthur-Noble-Knights/dp/0143105450

[The Marquis de Leech]

Oh, and he's written the introduction to a Charles Dickens novel:

http://www.amazon.com/Copperfield-Puffin-Classics-Charles-Dickens/dp/0141343826/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450795090&sr=1-8

[HexMachina]

I don't actually know what the foreword is like, it was just something I discovered when I google'd RBPL's quotes to see them in context. 

Holy shit he got his mitts on Dickens too? What. The. Actual. Fuck.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Further hunting around indicates that there's another author named Christopher Paolini who shares the same birth year, but is self-published.

I wonder if the more obscure Paolini decided to get into writing on the off-chance that people would confuse him with the famous one.

[HexMachina]

Further hunting around indicates that there's another author named Christopher Paolini who shares the same birth year, but is self-published.

I wonder if the more obscure Paolini decided to get into writing on the off-chance that people would confuse him with the famous one.

is it definitely someone different? As I understand, Paolini self-published first, then was picked up by Random House after some author's child read the book and liked it.