Ask Fowl

Ask Fowl is a column devoted to answering your fan-fiction and Artemis Fowl related questions.

It's simple, you send your questions in, and then someone from our not-so-expert panel will do the best that they can to answer them. So, if you want to see your question answered, send it in to the editor.

Should we try to match Eoin Colfer's style when writing fic?

Submitted anonymously.

Answered by Gus

The White Lily, author of the fic His Son's Father and winner of five Orions, doesn't think it is neccessary to follow the author's style. "I don't think we should feel any limitations on the style or setting of what we write," she says. However, she does point out that "we should be aware that most poeple who read fanfiction do so in order to get more of what they loved in the original books."

In this case, imitating the author's style can be a good thing. It is a way to draw the reader in, and to provide a fic that is somewhat familiar to the reader. Blue Yeti, who has written over seventy-five fics, notes that imitating the author's style "is just another way to link our fics into the original, cross our fingers, and hope the fandom likes it."

Nonetheless, Blue Yeti notes that "there are no times when you 'have to', and there are probably a few times (like when writing clonecest, or Juliet as a serial killer) when your audience will prefer if it's *not* written like the author." She proposes a situation where imitating the author could be harmful. "Imagine if I started out to write a fic with Holly as a prostitute, with threesomes, femslash, drug use and graphically described sex, but *pretended* that it was like Colfer's novels, by having the style and format look the same. I would likely get a lot more readers, and a lot more flames. I would be misleading readers into thinking they know what to expect: using the author's style can be very telling about what the content will be like, and what meaning of the fic will arrive at."

AgiVega, author of the immensely popular fics Artemis Fowl: The Aztec Incident and Artemis Fowl: The Sword of God, remarks about her own experience. "Certainly, in each of my fics I added a few lines that follow the style of the original author," she says, "but I wouldn't copy their style in the whole fic - both because it could sound unimaginative and because I think it's pretty much impossible to pay attention to keeping the original author's style, especially if you're writing a novel-length fic.

AgiVega does add that in some situations, it is neccessary to copy the author's style. One example is how a character is portrayed, and writing the character in a style other than the original author's would change the character completely. "I can't think of any character like this from the AF fandom, but Bartimaeus himself from the Bartimaeus trilogy IS like that. Either you write him in Stroud's style, or don't write him at all."

In summary, we do not generally need to imitate the original author's style. However, it is a good idea to insert a few lines that follow the original author's style. This method allows the fanfic author to tie their work with the original, and it gives something familiar for the fans to read.

Should fanfiction be focused around writing in the same genre and framework that the fans loved in the original, or should it be about finding the holes which are underexplored in canon and exploiting the possibilities?

Submitted anonymously.

Answered by Brightness

There really is no right or wrong answer to this question. It's a personal decision that the author has to make based on how they want to develop their stories and writing. People read and write fanfiction for different reasons. Some fans want to enjoy the same experience they they enjoyed when reading the original series. Fanfiction that follows the original canon can still continue even after the series has officially ended. AgiVega says,"I think both are fine and both have possibilities. Fics that continue the books (e.g fics written after TEC but before TOD, handing how Artemis regains his memories) are really popular, I myself love reading stories like that. But yes, fics that deal with underexplored things can be interesting too, even though I haven't read many of them, perhaps because there are less of them than of the 'canon-based' ones."

Another appealing aspect of fanfiction is that the universe and characters are already well established and there for fanfiction authors to experiment with. It's also an interesting change for readers to find their familiar characters facing situations they never would have encountered in the series. Blue Yeti says,"I love fanfiction which is all about expanding the 'holes' left in any good canon. If the original text is 'perfect', or at least very self contained, there aren't any plots left to explore, there aren't any characters without backstories, there aren't any other romances which could be rational. Personally, I write whenever I find a hole, however rational or irrational the hole might be."

The White Lily also says, "Some people love the style of the original, some simply want more of the universe and characters. Write what you love to read, and you can't go wrong."

Overall, fanfiction authors should write about the topics that interest them most. The only wrong decision they could make would be to stifle their imagination and creativity just to conform to the original author's expectations of the series.

Does hating slash and/or finding it disgusting make a person homophobic?

Submitted anonymously.

Answered by Annoying Schizoid

According to the Webster's Dictionary, the definition for homophobia is as follows:

I don't know if you can determine yourself “homophobic” based on your current opinion for slash fanfiction, but I think the reason and the extent to which you hate slash would be important factors.

You probably have your own reasons for hating slash. Many people, though not necessarily hating it, have an “As long as I don’t have to look at it, it’s cool” view on same-sex relationships and so choose not to read it. A fellow Artemis Fowl fan said, "As a guy I'm fine with idea of guys being in love, but that’s not to say I enjoy reading about it. Some people are into wrestling or opera and I'm fine with that too, but that doesn't mean I want to watch it."

Others just plain don’t like slash, but can see the reasoning behind it. AgiVega, fanfiction author, fanartist, and avid Artemis/Holly shipper wrote: “I know that many people ship Artemis and Butler, and even though I detest slash, I can see their point - these two really love each other (in my eyes their relationship isn't romantic, but I can fully understand those who make their relationship romantic, even if I wouldn't read an Arty/Butler fic). All in all, the only ship I support is A/H and I doubt if I'll ever like another.”

You may have a similar attitude or you may feel more strongly about it; however, you would be homophobic if you hated or feared slash to an unreasonable extent. I can't really tell you whether or not you're homophobic, though, because that's not something you can say about a person based on one thing, like hating slash. It's something you have to figure out for yourself.

So does refusing to read slash make you 100%, without a doubt, homophobic? Not necessarily, although you at least harbor a certain discomfort for homosexuality.

How do bio-bombs work?

Submitted by Anordir.

Answered by Gus

The bio-bomb is actually a very clever idea for fiction. However, when it comes to real life, such an idea would never work.

The bio-bomb is described as a weapon that destroys all living tissue without damaging physical structures. In addition to this, the radioactive fallout of the bomb can be focused to an exact radius. Blue light, released from the fictitious element "solinium 2," is referred to as the main weapon of the bio-bomb.

However, this is a contradiction with scientific fact. While light can be focused in diameter and width, it cannot be focused in distance or length. Light will travel in a straight line forever, unless it is absorbed or reflected by an object. The "light" in the bio-bomb is also described as being capable to pass through walls -- something that real light cannot.

The closest weapon to a bio-bomb in real life is the "dirty bomb," a device that scatters radioactive material. This is a very crude weapon. It is difficult to focus the fallout to a specific radius, and the radiation kills slowly. Furthermore, it makes the blast zone radioactive an inhospitable.

The bio-bomb is a neat concept to look at, but it is completely unrealistic. Not even a dirty bomb, the closest equivalent, comes close to the bio-bomb's description.

What are the Irish myths from which the Artemis Fowl fairies sprung?

Submitted by Blue Yeti.

Answered by Brightness

The idea of fairies as gentle beings with wings is a modern idea that resulted from a conglomerate of different cultural myths and legends. The Irish myths that most closely parallel the fairies in Artemis Fowl all occur in the Mythological Cycle, the first and most incomplete of all the cycles in Irish story telling.

The Mythological Cycle begins when the Tuatha Dé Danann, a divine race, invaded Ireland and wiped out its current inhabitants, the Fir Bolg. The Tuatha Dé Danann would have dominated Ireland entirely if another group, the Fomorians, hadn't already been there. The Fomorians were dealt with much more gently than the Fir Bolg and were given their own province to live in. Marriages between the two races occurred, but these only contributed to power struggles between the two groups that culminated in the Second Battle of Mage Tuireadh. The Fomorians were defeated and exiled from Ireland.

The Tuatha Dé Danann's grip over Ireland did not last. One day a scouting party arrived on the shores of Ireland and met with the Tuatha Dé Danann's highest representatives. The Tuatha Dé Danann killed one of the more prominent members of the expedition and in retaliation for his death the Milesians invaded Ireland. Any survivors that decided to stay in Ireland were led to a new home underground by The Dagda, a deity. There they formed the Daoine Sídhe, a group known for stealing children and causing minor mischief.

Why AU? What makes a good AU?

Submitted by Blue Yeti.

Answered by Annoying Schizoid

The reasons people enjoy writing or reading “Alternate Universes” are simple. However, what people consider to be “proper” AU is constantly under debate, and this is because the extent to which canon is changed in an AU fic varies from making slight alterations to creating parallel universes...