Q. Your essay in Secrets of the Dragon Riders describes Roran as a hero (more of a hero, in Eldest, than Eragon, even). What do you think makes a great hero?

A. I've finally figured out that perfect heroes are bor-ing. True heroes are made, not born that way. The greatest heroes of fiction frequently appear as tragic figures, conspicuously deficient in moderation, self-knowledge, and self-restraint. They seem to possess a much greater sense of helplessness-- an unwillingness to accept their destiny along with a feeling that they are unworthy of wearing the mantle of hero. Almost unconsciously they begin to know themselves by developing courage, wisdom, moderation, a sense of justice, and self-confidence as a direct result of their deficiencies. In real life there are well-known heroes like Mother Theresa and Mahatma Gandhi, and there are those -- ordinary people-- who emerge unexpectedly. A nine-year-old boy in my neighborhood emerged as a hero last summer when he snatched his younger brother out of the claws of a cougar. I'd like to think I'd save one of my kids or any kid from a cougar attack, but I don't really know if I'm a hero because I've never been tested like that. What if I ran away in terror? And I can't even begin to understand the inner reserves of strength, the sense of duty, and the amazing courage of those firemen and women in New York in the aftermath of 9/11. We don't even know their names, but talk about real heroes!

Q. Who would you say is your favorite hero of all time?

A. What a brain-squeezing question! OMG! Asking me to choose one favorite hero from the pantheon of past and present fictional heroes is like asking me to pick my favorite star in the sky. There are so many great heroes, and I love them all, including the comic book heroes Batman and Spiderman. I still cry when Boromir dies in Lord of the Rings-- what an awesome tragic hero. I'm sad when I read about Anomander Rake, Steven Erikson's Son of Darkness in the Malazan Book of the Fallen-- another great tragic hero. There are Lloyd Alexander's Taran and Homer's Odysseus. There are Beowulf, Ulysses, Athena, Harry Potter, Hagrid, and Zorro, not to mention the kids in the Chronicles of Narnia. But, when it comes right down to it, I have to say that my absolute favorite fictional hero is Aeneas from Virgil's great epic poem, The Aeneid. He's wise, strong, loyal, and courageous, and human. I believe he'd die to save me. That's the sort of leader I'd willingly follow.

Q. Why do you think so many people are fascinated by tales of heroes?

A. Tales of heroes transport us from our mundane world into a world of magic-- a place we can only reach in our imaginations. Despite their fictional existence though, heroes are very real in that they inspire us and make us want to be better human beings. Our world would be a less interesting place if there were no Harry Potter, no Hobbits, no Spiderman. Our fascination with heroes is as old as civilization and the earliest myths. We have made of heroes models for our own character development. I believe that if we didn't have literary heroes to emulate, the effect would be the same as if someone erased a vital ingredient of our moral development. Heroes help us have dreams, give us hope, and make us reach for the stars.

Q. Brisingr is due to be released next week. What do you hope to see happen in the book?

A. Besides wanting to see more of Roran, I'd like to see Eragon lose his obsession with himself and emerge as a great tragic hero, passionately committed to ridding his country of Galbatorix's evil rule and risking everything to that end, like Boromir, whose love of his country was so palpable, so naked and raw, that it was painful reading for the reader. I'd like to see Eragon fail and plummet to the depths of despair, and then claw his way back, becoming stronger, humbler, and a better man in the process. I hope to see Roran changed by his adventures in Eldest. After what he's been through, he shouldn't be content to simply marry Katrina and farm his land. He must ascend to the next rung on the ladder and keep climbing. I felt that Paolini was grooming him to be a real King in Eldest, so I'm hoping Roran becomes the great King to replace Galbatorix. Finally, I love Saphira and hope to see more of her, especially scenes that reveal her dragon wisdom and keen insight.

Q. You named the King of the Dwarves in your book The Serpent's Egg after your son. Was there a reason you chose that particular character to share his name?

A. Just as Elves have calm-sounding names like Elester, Ellesmere, Ruthar, and Leonara, in the Serpent's Egg trilogy, I wanted gruff- or abrupt-sounding names for my Dwarfs (or is that Dwarves?), especially for the King of the Dwarfs. My son's name is Gregor. And while he's not an actual dwarf, his name is wonderfully gruffish, i.e. dwarfish for my dwarfs. To keep peace in the family though, I had to get his permission to use his name in the story. I couldn't believe it when he agreed without any objections at all. I think he's secretly proud to be King of the Dwarfs; he probably thinks he's now immortal or something. Interestingly, I got the idea for matching names to places and people from Tolkien. His love of linguistics and philology is evident in Lord of the Rings. Euphonious or beautiful names are reserved for the Elves and good things. Really evil names, such as Sauron, sound like a snake hissing-- for the devil Satan. Cacophonous or guttural-sounding names are given to brutish, ignorant followers of evil leaders, such as Orcs, and individual Orcs like Gorbach. Names are important in stories, and Gregor is a perfect Dwarf king.

Q. Literacy is obviously a very important cause for you. How did you get involved in it?

A. During my articling year as a law student, I spent a lot of time with young offenders at remand court. I was appalled to discover that many of the kids I represented had never read a book for the sheer pleasure of reading or had given up reading before they reached their teens. For them, reading was so not cool. After my articling stint, I got involved in other areas of law and never returned to juvenile court. But I couldn't stop thinking about those kids and how unimaginative and empty their lives must be without books and fabulous heroes to make them think, to help them reason, and to inspire them to want more out of life than to merely exist-- finding thrills in swarming weaker kids for a few dollars or a new leather jacket. I gave up my law career and sat down to write The Serpent's Egg, hoping that it would appeal to kids who hated reading. I especially wanted to inspire boys to trade their X-boxes for a book and read for ten minutes a day. I know I can't change the world with my writing, but hopefully I can make an infinitesimal difference. Hundreds of letters from parents (and reluctant readers) telling me how my books changed the course of a kid's life … well … what could be better than that?

Q. If we want to get involved too, how would you recommend we do so?

A. As an author, it's relatively easy for me to promote literacy. I visit hundreds of schools, meeting thousands of kids every year. Today, publishers have a daunting challenge, trying to publish quality books while facing competition from television, computers, video games, radios, and iPods. Publishers are cash poor compared with high-tech corporations like Microsoft. To compete, publishers, public libraries, schools, bookstores, authors, and readers have to somehow get together and coordinate their efforts to make reading cool without sacrificing quality or reducing reading standards to the lowest common denominator. Literacy affects every aspect of society, from poverty to the crime rate. It's no longer enough for an author to show up at a book signing and expect to draw crowds. We have to work together to become creative. As individuals, we can also get involved by supporting and using our public libraries, and fighting to elevate the status of school libraries to the most important place in our schools. A doctor I know promotes literacy by giving the parents of newborn babies their child's first book as they leave the hospital. Many parents insist on giving only books (without apologizing) as gifts to adolescents and teenagers. Kids can encourage the entire family to sit together for five minutes in the evening to read aloud and discuss what they're reading. We have to become aggressive in promoting literacy. Or we're in BIG trouble. When was the last time you saw an ad for a book on TV?

Q. You don't just write books, you've also written documentaries and television specials! How does writing books compare with writing for more visual mediums?

A. While both are writing genres, writing books and writing for television are as different as golf is from tennis. The images of a television drama or motion picture tell a great part of the story. The writer doesn't have to describe a room or the weather or how a character feels. The pictures reveal all. Writing is focused on what the pictures can't show-- the hidden things. By contrast, writing a book is much more daunting. There are no pictures of angry, black thunderheads and giant waves to warn the couple on the boat that a storm is building. There is no image of twilight fading to night. No twinkling stars overhead. The author must use words to paint images. The reader takes the author's words and paints his or her own image of the perfect storm or stars twinkling like diamonds in a cold winter sky. Interestingly, our imaginations are inactive when we watch television or a movie. If we all watch the same image on television, and then draw that image, our images will contain the exact same elements. But if we all read the same description in a book and draw our interpretation from the author's words, no two pictures will be alike. We have to use our imaginations when we read.

Q. What are you working on right now?

A. I needed a break from trilogies because by the time I get to book three I can't remember what I said in book one. So I decided to write a single book. I just completed the first draft. It's a dark, sad tale about a famous Russian boy and the last free Russian dragon. It is part history as seen through the eyes of the boy and his four older sisters, and part fantasy as the boy escapes from his an incurable, life-threatening disease to rescue kids from Russian mythological monsters. At times, the boy's real story broke my heart but, despite the tears, I loved writing this book.

Q. If you could tell us to read one book this year (other than yours, of course!), what would it be?

A. Leonardo's Shadow: Or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo da Vinci's Servant, by Christopher Grey