Christopher Paolini believes in magic — the magic of words and stories that can create awe, impart wisdom, generate wonder, bubble with emotion.
But what about magic in his own life? "All I know is that if I wrote a book about what has happened to me, no one would believe it."
Words and stories have taken Paolini on a magical journey of his own that began when he was 15 and he decided to transfer his love of fantasy to the written page.
Having been home-schooled in Paradise Valley, Mont., he had just graduated from the distance-learning American School when he started writing the story of a boy his own age who found a dragon egg and became embroiled in a fantastical adventure involving elves, dwarves and an evil empire.
It took him a year to write it, another year to rewrite it. In February 2002, his family self-published "Eragon." They launched a home-grown marketing campaign that resulted in the sale of 10,000 books and brought it to the attention of editors at Knopf, who bought rights to it as well as the next two books in Paolini's planned trilogy.
Knopf's edition, released in February 2003, went on to sell more than 2.5 million copies in North America alone and has been published in 38 countries. Fox 2002 is in production for the film version of "Eragon," scheduled for release in the summer of 2006.
In August of this year, "Eldest," the second volume of the trilogy, and called by some the most-anticipated book of fall, was released — and promptly took over the top spot at Amazon.com — the first book to knock the sixth book in the Harry Potter series out of that spot.
"I'm amazed every day," Paolini said in a telephone interview from a hotel in Milwaukee, where he was in the midst of a 15-city tour to talk about "Eldest." He will be in Salt Lake City on Tuesday to do a talk/Q&A/book signing at Salt Lake Community College's Grand Theatre.
"I didn't ever think 'Eragon' would be published, let alone have that many people read it," he said. "I'm just grateful that so many have read and enjoyed it."
Paolini, now 21, was introduced to fantasy at a young age. "I was always an avid reader, and I enjoyed myths and folktales. Then my grandfather bought me a book called 'Ruby Knight' by David Eddings. It turned out to be the middle book of a trilogy, so of course, I had to read the first and third book. So I went to the library, and I also found a book called 'Magician' by Raymond E. Feist. And pretty soon, I was reading every fantasy in the library. I got hooked fairly quickly."
Still, reading fantasy and writing it are two different things. When it came time to write his own story, he knew he wanted to write a trilogy, because he likes the symmetry that offers. And he knew it should have the features he enjoyed from the books he's read — such things as a questing and questioning hero, lavish descriptions and exotic locations, magic, a sense of awe and wonder.
Dragons have always fascinated him. "I got interested in dinosaurs as a young boy, and it's a small leap from there to dragons. Dragons have been written about a lot in ancient myths and legends, and the chance to add to that mythology was irresistible. To be able to portray them the way I think they should be portrayed was a lot of fun."
Besides, who wouldn't like a best friend that could eat anyone you didn't like. "That's what (the dragon) Saphira is for (the boy) Eragon."
One of the most challenging, but also the most fun parts of writing the books has been creating new languages, Paolini said. "The elves' language is based on Old Norse, but the dwarves' and the Urgals' words were ones I made up from scratch. That required a lot of study of language structure, but the more I studied, the more I understood our own language."
Making up words was "a lot of fun, a form of entertainment," he said. But it also takes time. Writing fantasy is not like writing contemporary fiction, he pointed out. "In one paragraph, I might have to invent a fictional history, create a new world, throw in new bits of language."
Which leads to the advice he would give to any would-be authors — "write about what excites you and moves you the most; otherwise, your enthusiasm won't sustain you through an entire novel."
As soon as this book tour is over, Paolini said, "I can't wait to dive into Book Three," even though he knows it will probably consume another couple of years of his life. After that? Who knows? "I want to continue to tell stories in one form or another." He is also keeping up with his studies, listening to college courses on tape whenever he can. "But right now, I'm under contract, not college."
Paolini hopes people will enjoy his books for what they are. "I hope they will enjoy reading a fun adventure, that they will visit other worlds and see things they would not otherwise see."
All books encourage the development of imagination, he said. "You have to see things in your mind." Fantasy takes it a step further. "There are such different forces at work, it stretches the mind. And that's good, especially when you're young."
The best fantasy, he believes, "is really a way of interpreting the real world. It helps us come away feeling better about ourselves and the world. It helps us to ask better questions."
There's something very magical about that.
What: Christopher Paolini
Where: Salt Lake Community College Grand Theatre, 1575 S. State
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Info: www.alagaesia.com
E-mail: carma@desnews.com