Young Writers Society

*gasps*

Cos Paolini was really the first person to have gold armour. Cos it really isn't a common Fantasy convention at all.

Seriously, why is everyone looking for reasons to hate the guy? Like half the reasons I've read on this site are completely unjustified.

I'm afraid I'm just a bitter old man in a young boy's body and when the old man gets annoyed, watch out.

Yes, call it a curse, if you wish.

I wander what would happen if we highlighted all the similarities(sp) between eragon and LOTR and teh script of star wars then post it to him.

He might apoligise to us all. Just think of him on his knees apoligising

I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time. He can't possibly be unaware of the fact that the majority of readers have highlighted these... similarities. I think he must just bluff his way through the interviews.

"Cos it really isn't a common Fantasy convention at all" - it isn't in my experience, maybe I need to read more books.

"why is everyone looking for reasons to hate the guy?" - if you don't like someone, and think they've taken far too many ideas from other people, and think they're arrogant, and feel envious/jealous, and think some of their ideas are stupid then you will try to find reasons to hate them - it's kind of logical.

Actually, all of the above from Ofour is kind of hate altogether

Ofour: I'm not talking about disliking a person. I said, 'why are people looking for reasons to hate the guy?'

People appear to be scrounging through everything he says and does, looking for reasons - a number of them illogical or completely unfair - to hate him.

"are people looking for reasons to hate the guy?" - they're not looking for reasons to hate him because they already do (at least, that's what I've picked up from this thread). They're looking for things to degrade him with because they hate him.

I actually liked Eragon and the way it was written, and I found it was an interesting read. I read it when I was eleven and haven't bothered to read it again and I wouldn't dare to see that slop that they call a "movie."

Eldest, however, was very disappointing. It was twice or three times longer than it needed to be. Roran's and Nasuada's plights were barely worth writing down, and Eragon/Arya were getting annoying. Then the end was far to cliched (I have never gotten into LOTR and Star Wars...even though my mom loves Star Wars), but even I could see the similarities to Star Wars in the end. The book was nauseatingly long and really boring...then Eragon's transformation and sudden nobility - I wanted to barf. I can only imagine how horrible the movie will be.

I am looking forward to the third book - I actually think Paolini is waiting until after Deathly Hallows comes out in hopes that the HP fans will need something good to read....

Also, after reading all the posts and reading over Paolini's quotes I wonder, can he be any more full of himself? I absolutely hate it when people use too many praising adjectives about their works. Seriously, his book isn't that good.

Everybody hates Paolini...I just read the whole thread, and I agree, Paolini is so full of himself.
I read Eragon and Eldest, and I liked both of them, but Eldest was a little too long, and a little too boring. And the characters were, well, not so okay, except Murtagh. He's the only real character in the book.

As for the copying of LOTR and Star Wars, I've never read/watched any of the books/movies.

Well, that's sort of a lie. I read The Fellowship Of the Ring, and boy, was it good!! And I watched the movie, the Two Towers, I think, and it was really cool too.
But I've never watched Star Wars, or read the books, so I can't say much about the copying part.


I'm not saying I hate the books or Paolini, I just think the books are okay. And for the third book, I'm not very interested in reading it. Probably because I'm too busy biting my fingernails over The Deathly Hallows.

I get the feeling from reading this thread that very few of you know how to be a reader. All of you know how to be a writer, and rant critique and critiscize but have any of you tried suspending your judgement ant just reading? The time for ranting and raving comes later, first just read the book for what it is.

Now lets go over your main complaints.

First it is copied off star wars and lord of the rings. There are two major flaws with this arguement. The first is the fact that he was FIFTEEN when he wrote eragon, the fact is that all new writers copy off exsisting works some, take offense if you like, its just the way it works. The second flaw is that there is NO Plot that hasn't been done before. You can say that your plot is so original, but sorry folks, somewhere, some time its been done before.

your Second major complaint was that Paoloni ego. I found myself laughing at the way many of you put it. be careful how you word things because frankly, when yu complained about his ego many of you sounded egotistical.

That's all I have time to address for now. I'll address the rest later.

Until then, when you read try to be a reader not a critic.
~®®§

How ironic that you say this, when your arguments are completely baseless. Firstly, sure, we all copy ideas off other authors when we're young. The difference is, Paolini has had his books published, promoted and turned to best-sellers, purely because his family is a publishing one. Had he had to go the normal route, no publisher in their right mind would consider taking his work, for fear of being sued for plagiarism. Call us bitter if you like, but it's slightly disheartening that someone can be given the fast-track to publishing while the rest of wallow in the squalor of rejection letters, despite having no apparent talent. (I would just like to point out here that I don't think that my work deserves to be published any more than any others, despite how that may be how it looks) What depresses me even more is that the heavy marketing has obviously brainwashed people into believing what they've read - out of a hundred reviews for the book on Amazon.co.uk, it still manages a 4 star average. Urgh.

Which brings me to the plot. Yes, no plot has never been done, but there are ways to present the plot to at least make it feel original. Paolini has done none of this, and gone even further, to take whole plot concepts from Star Wars. An ancient order of mystical beings whose purpose is to protect the world. Only two remain, one who was responsible for the demise of said ancient order, and one who is the only hope left for the order's survival. An enemy, who happens to be a close relative of the hero. Sound familiar? And don't even get me started on the LOTR references, ie. elves and dwarves.

Paolini's ego. Sure, we don't know the guy. But, frankly, you'd have to be a complete idiot who has no knowledge whatsoever of human personality to be blind to the fact that he thinks he's the best writer since Tolkein. I quote from his site:

Eragon is an archetypal hero story, filled with exciting action, dangerous villains, and fantastic locations. There are dragons and elves, sword fights and unexpected revelations, and of course, a beautiful maiden who's more than capable of taking care of herself.

Within the pages of this book is a whole land, Alagaësia, for you explore. You may take fancy to Tronjheim, the city-mountain the dwarves have built, or perhaps the mysterious forest Du Weldenvarden. Either way, there are more than enough marvels here for even the most accustomed reader of fantasy.

Excuse me, while I 'bring up' my dinner.

Notice the self-absorbed, cocky tone: 'filled with exciting action, dangerous villains, and fantastic locations.' 'Either way, there are more than enough marvels here for even the most accustomed reader of fantasy.' It's not even this blatant arrogance that is annoying. I don't mind arrogant people, they can be hilarious at times. Heck, Simon Cowell's a riot. But it's the fact that he's acting as though all these 'marvels' are his ideas. There's no reference to LOTR, or Star Wars, anywhere near him, not on his books, or on his site. Nor has he mentioned either works in any interviews. If he said it was a homage to the two titles, then we wouldn't mind. But he's trying to pass these ideas off as his own. I would also like to highlight the 'unexpected revelations' part. Had I been drinking I'm afraid I would have had to spit it out from amusement.

In fact, he actually says it himself: 'Eragon is an archetypal hero story...' Exactly. No originality in the presentation of plot, no originality in world conepts.

As to this:

regalredstar wrote:I get the feeling from reading this thread that very few of you know how to be a reader...

...Until then, when you read try to be a reader not a critic.

Well. What can I say? You've been here long enough, surely you know by now that the only way to improve our own writing is to critique the works of other people. It's not as if we set out to do it, it just happens automatically, while we read. And the best readers are the one's who critique what they're reading, instead of just delving into any old trash and calling it quality literature. We like to learn while we read. And Eragon has taught us a very good 'What not to do' lesson.

Aside from 'bashing down' our opinions with weak arguments, what have you actually told us? You could at least do us the courtesy of telling us your opinions on the book. I think we can gather that you like them (I shudder at that alone), but can you at least tell us why you like them? If you can possibly give us that, we (or, at least, I) may be a little more willing to take your arguments seriously.

-Kaz

regalredstar: I think your reader/critic argument is, to be quite honest, rather silly. Do you expect everyone to mindlessly love everything they read?

Kaz: Actually, Paolini pretty much self-published his book.

His family's 'publishing company' was tiny, and had only published three other books prior to Eragon (and no other successful books at all).

Paolini did the artwork for the origional book cover and the maps inside himself, and did all the advertising himself. You could take exactly the same route via self-publishing.

Eragon was later discovered by a traditionally published author, who showed it to his publisher. The publisher enjoyed the book, and gave Paolini an offer.

Although I agree that Paolini's books have lots of flaws, I think everyone is making too much out of the whole 'his parent's owned a publishing company' thing.

I really need to read that book.

Ironic, isn't it?