Author's Life:
When Eoin Colfer was a kid, his dad would tell him improvised stories about fairies, and other mythological creatures. This is where all of his inspiration to make the Artemis Fowl books came from. In an interview, he states that: "even as a kid, I wished I could write stories like that..." The problem with writing stories like that, is that there were already a lot of fairytales in the fantasy genre out there. Especially in Ireland, where fairytales were especially common. This meant he had to find a way to set his stories apart from the rest. The way he chose was technology. The fairies in his stories had very advanced tech that shielded them from human eyes, or could allow them to wipe humans memory if they were spotted. He chose to make advanced technology his defining characteristic due to the fact that he felt it made the most sense. After all, if fairies existed, they must be very advanced to have not been sighted, and to not be widely believed in. According to the author in an interview on his website eoincolfer.com, it takes him about a year to write each book. This is because he doesn't write for an entire year at a time. He takes family vacations for up to 2 months at a time, and it also takes him about 2 months to edit each book. He started writing coded messages at the bottom of each page of the first book in the Artemis Fowl series. They were written in gnommish, the language he made up for the fairies to speak. He did this because of the fact that he used to be part of a club based on a comic book that did the very same. Eoin Colfer chose the name "Artemis Fowl" based on the goddess Artemis, from greek mythology, and the word "foul".
Author/Character Comparison:
There is a large amount of evidence showing that the author Eoin Colfer and the protagonist Artemis Fowl are very similar to each other. For example, both the author and the protagonist think many steps ahead while doing things. They are very decisive, and always think with the future in mind. This is shown in the book when Artemis Fowl makes plans to escape the fairies' final weapon before he even talks to their police. This is also an example of the author thinking ahead, as Artemis Fowl wouldn't have known what was coming if Eoin Colfer himself didn't know either. They also both aren't careless at all. Eoin Colfer often mentions small parts where people act slightly out of character, such as Artemis Fowl getting sentimental, however, at the end of the book, Eoin Colfer explains the characters reasons for losing character. An example of this is towards the end of the book, when Artemis Fowl asks Holly, his fairy captive, to heal his bedridden mother. This is shown as though Artemis truly cares about her, but the book then explains in a note after the book that this was purely to prevent him from being taken away from Fowl Estate, and sent to a more fit guardian to take care of him. Neither Artemis, nor the author, are careless.