SeanF Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I suppose the question is, given how bad and pretentious Paolini is, how has he sold 35 million copies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 The sales figures aren't necessarily surprising. Twilight and 50 Shades both lived on the Times best seller list, and Michael Bay is like the fourth highest grossing director in film history. Popularity isn't always subject to quality, and I think that his twat-like attitude is probably an aftereffect of the popularity of his series.I wish I could figure out the secret of writing crap that sells millions of copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fionwe1987 Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I wish I could figure out the secret of writing crap that sells millions of copies. Having rich parents who will publish your crap because they think you're special.Also, the "other" Paolini is almost certainly the same exact guy. I can't believe Dickens and Steinbeck have to suffer the indignity of having this hack write a foreword for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I think two of the worst writers of all time were Sidney Sheldon and Harold Robbins, yet their sales ran into hundreds of millions. Paolini is good by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andorion Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I read Eragon when I was a teenager and I really liked it. I liked Eldest as well. Brisingr was a disappointment, and the last book is better not spoken of.However in his early website comments Paolini didn't really have this kind of a tone. It came off more like a teenager excited at this new writing world he was exploring. I freely admit Paolini inspired me to write myself, it is something I still do for emotional release. I think the success of his books went to his head and he had really poor advice on how to conduct himself and handle fame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteGabriel Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 It's not just the attitude that bothers people though. It's the fact that he borderline plagiarized almost point for point the plot of Star Wars, as well as (to a lesser degree) the world of Tolkien, the dragon riders of McCaffrey, half of the magic from Hobb, etc. I've tried to like it, I honestly have, but as far as I'm aware there's not a single original piece of creativity in the series that isn't some rehashed cliche.This. It is all regurgitated tripe. Anyone with half an ounce of sense or shame would not have published that crap. Jesus, it wasn't even competently written hackery. Fuck him for making a career on selling clumsy ripoffs of other people's work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andorion Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 It's not just the attitude that bothers people though. It's the fact that he borderline plagiarized almost point for point the plot of Star Wars, as well as (to a lesser degree) the world of Tolkien, the dragon riders of McCaffrey, half of the magic from Hobb, etc. I've tried to like it, I honestly have, but as far as I'm aware there's not a single original piece of creativity in the series that isn't some rehashed cliche.The plagiarism thing didn't really hit me until later, I was very new to fantasy when I was 14-15 and very excited to have a book with dragons in it. Yeah I see how that made older, more experienced readers hate him. My regard for him (if you can call it that) is not because of the quality or originality of his writing, but that how exciting it was for me to see another teenager actually writing books. I loved writing, always wanted to write, never thought about publishing or fame, just writing because it made me happy, and Paolini made me think I could do it too. That's why you could say I have a bit of a soft spot for him.And speaking of plagiarized books, I had the misfortune to read another debut - the Novice, by Taran Matharu who seems to have copied the Eragon arc (pretty ironic) and combined that with Harry Potter and Pokemon. Goodreads link if you are curious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I tell you, he'd better cool it with the Star Wars shit with this next one. George Lucas might not be a litigious guy, but Disney's legal department will come down on him like the Death Star.Tbf, though, as derivative as it was I think you'd struggle to prove that Disney have the intellectual rights to any of the plot elements that he used. You can't copyright someone being someone's dad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 He's still better than Nicholas Sparks who, I shit you not, once said he was better than Shakespeare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Reckoner Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 He writes in the Dickinsonian tradition, if I remember the Eragon novels correctly. The Star Wars similarities hit me at the end of book two. I stopped after book three. I realized it was a bunch of deleted scenes disguised as an AU story where Obi Wan was Luke's real father. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 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.Here's the "other" Paolini:http://www.amazon.com/Christopher-A.-Paolini/e/B009MGV5FM/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1The famous Paolini was born in Los Angeles, and is Christopher James Paolini. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Dickinsonian tradition? I didn't know Dickinson was published as a small child by his rich snob parents and stole scenes word for word from other works. The more you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 He's still better than Nicholas Sparks who, I shit you not, once said he was better than Shakespeare.Did Shakespeare ever have a movie based on his work starring Ryan Gosling? No?Checkmate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 No, he gets Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewert. Doubke checkmate your face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 No, he gets Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewert. Doubke checkmate your face. [emoji14]A pair of hacks. Paolini will be remembered when Shakespeare is long-forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 No, he gets Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewert. Doubke checkmate your face. Dude really? wtf lol They r old. and not evn hot. ryan gosling isi bet u think the beatles r better than one drection even tho the beatles never even went on the x factor.triple checkmate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I suppose the question is, given how bad and pretentious Paolini is, how has he sold 35 million copies?I don't know about all 35 million copies, but I got my copy of Eragon for my birthday 9 years ago (I think) from my friend who's totally not into fantasy and his reasoning was: "Well, he's into fantasy, this book is in the fantasy section AND it has a dragon (or whatever it was) on the cover. It's obvious I should get him this one."Not saying that's how he sold ALL 35 million, but I'm quite sure that it does make for some part of the sales.Also, it would be interesting to see sales numbers for each book separately. Eragon is probably by far the best selling one because people are willing to try out the new series but are not willing to carry on reading if it's crap, which Eragon definitely is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Not saying that's how he sold ALL 35 million, but I'm quite sure that it does make for some part of the sales.I also blame people like Diana Wynne Jones, who really should have known better:http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/06/featuresreviews.guardianreview34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I also blame people like Diana Wynne Jones, who really should have known better:http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/06/featuresreviews.guardianreview34Eragon may be a decent book for children. It's that quotation, comparing himself to Tolkien and Heaney that invites ridicule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinkhole Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 I think Paolini is awkward but I think he gets a lot of his pretentiousness from his father. His dad sounds like a real jerk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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