What did Chris do right to get published and gather a sizeable fanbase?

well, they got john malkovich to be in it, i imagine they had some kind of strings to pull at least

If I remember correctly, both of his parents worked as Administrators at the publishing company, and the reason it didn't just fade away into obscurity is because he did a book tour through every middle school in like every major city in the country where he went in to the local library dressed up like a wizard and read almost all of the book to the kids so they would get really into it and then want to buy it to find out how it ends. Then, it just snowballed form there while riding the whole "young prodigy" angle they were pushing since he was 16.

Otherwise it would have probably never got published and would be a cringe worthy first attempt by a fledgling author. I mean:

>Named the book, and main character after Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings. Just spelled it differently based on the phoenetic pronunciation used for the film.
>Copied the basic plot from Star Wars, so much so that he had to put an addendum in the back saying he "drew inspiration" from it. Eragon=Luke, Brom=Obi Wan, Saphira=blue lightsaber.

>Uses cliche tropes that may not be bad by themselves, but when taken with the rest stand out. Young friend who's son of bad guy, turns evil and becomes bad guy.Elf wish fulfillment OP transformation bullshit. Generic Dwarf bullshit. Other shit I can't quite remember.

He was just lucky enough to hav eparents with connections that knew how to make a good enough marketing plan at a time when his manuscript could ride the wave of popularity that came with the Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter craze. Kind of like if he had written about vampire romance and released it when Twilight came out.

It was alright when I was 11, but looking back there's a lot of cringe that should have been pruned by the editors if his parents hadn't smacked them away from the thing.

>>Named the book, and main character after Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings. Just spelled it differently based on the phoenetic pronunciation used for the film.

What? It's from the word dragon. Just change the D to and E.

Anyway I have criticisms with the Inheritance series but they're inoffensive and not terrible. I also felt the last two books were a noticeable amount better than the first two.

This is the guy with the Rolling Stones interview, right?

The one where the interviewer basically implies that Christopher and his sister are sleeping together?

Wow so deep /s
The answer is luck.

>I also felt the last two books were a noticeable amount better than the first two.
This definitely warrants a 'lol wut?'
The second book was nothing but vegan propaganda.

He originally published it at his parents' vanity press, then went around the country promoting himself and his book with the various lies about it being written by a teenager (even though it wasn't even self-published until he was well into his 20s, never mind the version he had to rewrite once he got a real publishing deal).

Eventually a major publisher noticed him and thought he he had a hit on his hands so he signed him on board.

As for why he's derided, just read the first book or even part of it and you'll see why.

>since he was 16
*19

Also his parents simply owned a vanity press, basically a privately owned publisher that prints pet projects for people, not a real publishing house. Paolini was essentially self-published at 19, promoted the fuck out of his book, then got scooped up by a real publisher (which was the plan all along).

Nepotism isn't luck, it's nepotism.

It's for kids. I loved it in middle school, by college when the last book came out, I could tell it was shit.

It's not really nepotism. His parents just own a rinky dink press that publishes for money. If you have a book and pay them, they print it. That simple. They're not a real publishing house with national/global distribution connections with major book stores. There's a reason Paolini had to stump his book in schools and libraries to get the word out, most major retailers wouldn't take it because it didn't come from one of their suppliers. He still had to put in a lot of work to finally get published for real, but you could say he was just throwing dice until eventually he got a yahtzee and met somebody in the industry who could get him published.

Still, being born to the owners of a publishing company is a significant bit of luck. Even if he had to do more work to really make it he had a significant leg up.

>What did Chris do right to get published and gather a sizeable fanbase?
His parents and self-promotion did that, as other anons have already written. What I'd also point out is the fact that he was on Oprah, which also strongly contributed to his popularity.

>What did he do wrong to earn Veeky Forums's scorn for all time?
He is a horrible writer

>luck

Stop this fucking meme and re-read the thread.

This. His parents self-published it for him and went on an autistic "book tour" that was massively unsuccessful until someone with actual publishing connections found them by chance and decided it could sell.

>what should I name my book about a dragon?
>the dragon? No, too obvious
>what about just dragon?
>nah, that's too simple
>well hold up a second, dragon starts with D
>E is the letter after D
>so maybe if I just replace...
>perfect, I'll call it Eragon
What a fucking hack

>What a published hack

FTFY

>What an unremarkable hack
FTFY

>Every chapter begins with Eragon waking up somewhere or someplace

For fuck sake Paolini you hack.

>Saphira=blue lightsaber.

HAHA! Oh, wow, that's a good one, thanks for the laugh.

S-sauce?

>14 years later
>still hasn't written anything not in the eragon series

What did he mean by this?

He wrote a shit book? It's such utter garbage, Harry Potter is a literary masterpiece compared to it.

Is there any example of a first time author getting published without nepotism?

What do you think Paolini's life is like now

All authors were first-time at some point you retard.

>As of 2016, Paolini is working on a science fiction novel (tentatively entitled "#TSiaSoS") and plans to return to the world of Alagaësia with a fifth book at some point in the future.[9]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Paolini#Career

Get hype lads

The Song in a Sea of Swords. How original.

hi chris

Pussy dried up, he is now an has been.

If you actually picked up this book, looked at the retarded ugly dragon cover and read it you are probably the sort of person that would buy a dragon dildo. In any just society you would be publicly executed.

So this is what passes for logic these days. Interesting.

>tfw I wasted a $25 book shop gift voucher I won at school on that stupid fucking book

If the only thing that contributed to his success is the "luck of being born to publishing parents" then why do a bunch of published authors never come close to the popularity that eragon had?

He released his books right after LOTR and right during peak Harry Potter time

Luck helped a hell of a lot in this case

"According to Paolini, he and Angela, a petite woman with intelligent dark eyes and a fantastic nest of dark, springy curls, have their own near-telepathic bond, not unlike Eragon and his dragon. Angela is the inspiration for one of Paolini's fictional characters, the quirky, feisty Angela the Herbalist, who plays a pivotal narrative role by telling Eragon his fortune, and is the most captivating character in the books. In one passage from Inheritance, Paolini writes that Angela the Herbalist's expression is "languid and insolent"; the description applies to the real Angela as well. She gives the discomfiting impression that she's mocking you, teasing you, flirting with you and sizing you up all at once."

rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-prince-of-dragons-christopher-paolini-and-the-rise-of-inheritance-20120308

Not quite the incestuous tale that the other user promised, but creative anons can still use it as fuel for incestuous fantasies.

Also: this looks like her. She's pretty cute.

The logic these days is that if you buy a dragon dildo you should teach a class about it at university. I am against this logic and anyone who isn't is a big gay faggot.

>it's just staar waars!
I would have thought Veeky Forums of all places would know plot is meaningless.

Unless you leaked from /sffg/. Then it all makes sense.

What?

and jeremy irons

Well they also got Jeremy Irons to be in the Dungeons and Dragons movie

Kingdom of Heaven too. And the AssCreed film. I think Irons just likes fantasy or something.

They look like children of different parentage

cucked

that still doesn't make it ok

What's wrong with two people of different parents sleeping together?

The prose is shit
Is this criticism better?

As pseudo-GRRM, it's alright prose.

what did he mean by this

>tfw saw someone actively reading this book while walking to class yesterday on uni campus

My gf likes those books and read them as a kid.

>love her too much so I just say hehe cool when she mentions them

iktf

for clarity, I meant this person was reading while they were walking, like, open book, looking ahead at the sidewalk every few seconds