Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl and the new W.A.R.P. series, discusses the past, present, and future of his craft and his stories.
As an established author, can you talk about your writing process? Has it changed over the years?
I treat writing like a job – a dream job, but still a job – so I like to be in my office as soon as the kids are in school and stay there until they come home. Like many workaholics these days, I often don’t switch off till bedtime, so I am trying to be better at shutting the lid on my laptop. Having said that, I am answering these questions after midnight.
The only change in my process which I can really pin down is that I prefer to write out of sequence now, in that if I have an exciting idea I get to it straight away.
What is your approach to doing research for your novels?
I love doing research, as it is a pleasant break from writing. I try not to get too caught up with putting everything in the book that I have learned. It works better for me to drop interesting facts in every now and then, casually, in passing so that it seems natural to read and not just me regurgitating facts I copied from the internet.
Does anything surprise you while you’re writing?
The plot usually turns out to be something completely different to what I had originally planned. I guess my subconscious figures it out long before my slow conscious mind. This can be a little tiresome when you have to go back through everything and retrofit the consequences to all the plot twists.
What is the scariest part of writing a novel for you?
I generally have a crisis about two thirds of the way through every book when I start to have doubts about the project and wish I had done something else. I expect the crisis now and have learned to ride it out for the couple of weeks it lasts. So that is the number one scary part. After that is sending it to my editor and waiting to find out whether the book is actually any good.
Have you taken any lessons from the Artemis Fowl series into WARP and your other writing?
I think my writing has become more streamlined now and I can really set an adventure book going at a cracking pace. The trick is not to rush the whole thing. Choose your moments.
Can you talk about any developments with the Artemis Fowl movie?
I know the script is done and everybody is pretty happy with it. I think the hunt for a good director is on at the moment and that’s about all I know, I’m afraid.
In W.A.R.P., Riley and Chevie are vastly different from each other. How did you create their characters, and how did you decide to put them together?
I think for an adventure book the more differences there are between the main characters the more inherent drama you have. So I purposefully made them as different as possible and then shoved them down a time tunnel together.
How do you approach writing villains like Albert Garrick?
Writing a good baddie is difficult because there are so many of them in fiction, and you don’t want your bad guy to be a bit like Captain Hook or Hannibal Lecter. So what I tried to do with Garrick was create something completely new – a quantum man with gifts never before seen on earth. I think he works well because people are scared of him, mostly adults. It is difficult to scare children.
Finally: Would you rather be a book or a computer?
I would have always said book, but then I discovered Apple computers and fell in love – so now I would say computer. But it would have to be MacBook air, so I could store a thousand books.
About Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer is a former teacher who turned to writing full-time after publication of his immensely popular Artemis Fowl series. Now the Children’s Literature Laureate in Ireland, Colfer is the author of more than a dozen books for children and young adults. His most recent novels are the first two books in the W.A.R.P. series, The Reluctant Assassin, and The Hangman’s Revolution, which was published in June.
Check out EoinColfer.com for more information on Eoin and his writing, and follow him on Twitter for the latest news and all your pronunciation woes.
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