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Challenges
Summary: August - September 2003
Write a story, of any length, chaptered or unchaptered, which MUST feature Artemis (and any other characters you might want) who finds himself in a difficult situation involving:
You must use in the story somewhere these 3 words: wine, tenacious, trombone. Any pairings may be used EXCEPT Artemis/Holly. Categories: Criminality Challenges Characters: None
Summary: October-November 2003
Write a story, a one-shot/single chapter of any length (which by Criminality standards is between 500 and 8000 words long), in which a single character is seen in at least these three states of emotion: crying, laughter, anger. The story can span as much or as little time as you'd like. This character must be a canon character from the Artemis Fowl books; you are allowed any amount of obscurity (it can be centered around Newt for example). Categories: Criminality Challenges Characters: None
Summary: November-December 2003
Write a story, of any length, chaptered or unchaptered, in which the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black are named. There is some room for movement, such as the word lilac can replace purple, or grey replace black, pink replace red, but seven completely different shades of the colour spectrum must be mentioned by name.
Summary: December 2003 - January 2004
Write a Christmas fic! Anything goes, absolutely anything. It can be based off a favourite (or hated) Christmas story, it could be Arty at age 3 asking bad questions, Root with a 'festive coloured face'...
Summary: January-February 2004
"Everything that has a beginning has an end." - The not-quite famous catchphrase of Matrix: Revolutions.
But is it true? Because even once something has ended, it's effects, the memories, the reverberation through time of that event remains. Nothing is ever truely gone... except when it is. As is the case with Artemis Fowl the Second's memories in the aftermath of The Eternity Code. But, unfortunately, not all the effects can ever be gone, such as Butler's internal kevlar vest, and Timmy's rescue.
a) Write a story about beginnings, endings, and the lack of distinction between the two.
The story can be of any length, format and Point Of View. It can be 1st, 2nd or 3rd Person. The story has to contain the words: Fire, Train, Congruence.
Summary: February-March 2004
idiot savant: a condition where one is a genius or prodigy in one subject and inept at others.
"...most of these prodigies are brilliant, but unable to describe their methods, often unsure how their mind works. It also said that these people are often unbalanced; able to work in one area of life but all other areas are unbalanced or incompetent. John Nash, for popular example, was schizophrenic. Our challenge? To write a story inspired by this term 'idiot savant' and its meaning. Shouldn't be too hard, if you think about the number of various super-intelligent people we have in canon. It can be whatever idea might pop into your head about it. The term does not have to be mentioned by name, or even used as an aspect of the fic, though some relevance and evidence of inspiration might be nice. Because this challenge was first set by Abigail Nicole (and used with her permission and blessing), I will not set any specific words that have to be incorporated into the text, because there are already at least two responses to the challenge.
The story can be of any length, format and Point Of View. It can be 1st, 2nd or 3rd Person.
Summary: March-April 2004
Foaly kept Artemis's memories and mind on file. One day he gets those promised weeks off and looks at them. What does he see? Foaly viewing the files does not have to be the main aspect of the fic; the memories can be viewed as flashbacks, but by all means they do not have to be viewed such; what Foaly sees can span any amount of time, involve any characters, and have any greater implications or impact that you can think of.
The story can be of any length, format and Point Of View. It can be 1st, 2nd or 3rd Person.
Summary: April-May 2004
Write a fic that incorperates lines or partial lines into your dialogue or narration that you have taken from song lyrics. Alternatively, you could incorporate some lines from poetry into the fic. You must use lyrics from at least three different songs/poems in your fic, though they can all be by the same group, artist or author. You can not simply quote lines, or use them in the usual format of a songfic. One of the three quotes can be said as a diagetic quote, as if a character is quoting it to another character. The lines must be indistinguishable from the characters' dialogue or the narration of the fic. In your submission tell us what lines were taken from songs, and where they came from.
An example of a drabble responding to this challenge, Artemis considers his competitors at a later age: He prowls the wasteland for bodies, eyes darting back and forth, assessing the false dangers of the world every time he picks up the morning paper. He counts the failed attempts of businesses as they strive to ruin him. He shall never be ruined. A break from the past would do them well; separation from reality is far too apparant in their statements to the press. The past is not the truth, Artemis laughs. Their power is not a truth. Phantom shadows on the floor are the only remnants, appart from a few bones in an 'Unsolved' file at Dublin guarda station, of those who dared to challenge him. Artemis smiles again, the mocking laugh resonating without sound, vibrating at the corner of his eyes. '"As virtuous men passe mildly away, And whisper to their soules, to goe, Whilst some of their sad friends doe say, The breath goes now, and some say, no...".' 'Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning". People like to keep hold of life and illusions, Artemis.' 'They are silly people then, Butler.'
"He prowls the wasteland for bodies" from The Deadman Poems by Michael Delp
Summary: May-June 2004
Write a fic, of exactly 500 words, in which Artemis has bought, found, smuggled into his room (or otherwise got his sinister little hands on) a pair of Tight Leather Pants (capitalised because it is; what I really mean is simply a pair of leather pants, of any colour, make ect). What does he do with them, wear them to, or use them for?
The words lint (as in the belly-button fluff/pocket fluff) and Lindt (as in the chocolates) must be used somewhere in your entry (remember, the more inventively it's used and if it's for an aspect of the 'plot', the more brownie points you get).
Summary: June-July 2004
"I see the future..." Write a fic in which the chronological order is messed up, preferably reversed. Start at the end and move forward towards the start of the story. And I agree that this can be furiously difficult and just plain not work in some situations, so quite a lot of lee-way is allowed. Your fic has to be inspired by this challenge, and so not have a completely chronological plot. In other words you don't have to have the first scene last and the last first, but the fic can not start at W and progress through X and Y to Z, but starting at W going to Y, then to Z, then to X is fine. Just have some fun. Mess things up a little.
All entries (to prove that the fic was written for this challenge (or that you've gone back to it before sending it here and added a paragraph)) must include a description of a sky. Be inventive, I look out for it. You could say it was cloudy, or grey, or instead you could wax lyrical about the tumbling clouds on a surreal background, and then pull back and find that it was a painting. INVENTIVE IS GOOD.
Summary: July-August 2004
If you were around in the Harry Potter fandom back when there were 300 fics you might remember a version of this challenge posted by Flourish. I have used this without permission.
Something Old - One of the classical clichés of the AF fandom must get a mention or play a part - Holly's father being in the LEP or the fic beginning with Root shouting at Holly in his office, for example. Anything you've seen too many times in AF fanfics. Something New - An anti-cliché of the AF fandom must be included. A pairing, idea, scene or (exceptionally impressive) line that to your knowledge hasn't been used more than a few times within the fandom/only in a few fanfics to your knowledge. gay!Chix, for example, has only been written once or twice; to my knowledge there has never been a fic centered around Angeline and Artemis Senior. Get out the imagination and give it a dusting. Something Borrowed - a line, scene or idea that you've directly snatched from another medium without shame. A few lines from a favourite book (not quoted by the characters, you have to at least be pretending it's yours); perhaps a magical concept from a Harry Potter fic you enjoy, or even something you've stolen from history. This is permission to get fame from what someone else wrote for once. (You must tell me in the submission email what you borrowed and where it came from.) Something Blue - just that: add in a mention of blue jeans or sky, or perhaps blues music or someone being depressed. INVENTIVE, as I always says, gets you brownie points with this Yeti.
If you really want to embrace this challenge add in a wedding!
Summary: September-October 2004
Relate a fanfiction to the concept or ideas from classic myth. A parallel must be made between the story you are telling, and the story of characters from a mythological base. You could use myths, gods or creatures from ANY culture or background - classical Greek and Roman, Celtic, Egyptian, Hindu, Norse, Australian Aboriginal... Whatever you can think of. An excellect source of inspiration might be Encyclopedia Mythica. Many cultures even have myths relating to fairies... An easy and perfectly acceptable way to integrate the myth is to have Artemis tell a mytholigical anecdote to a character; to have someone read a story of the myths within the story and discover parallels; to retell or quote a mythological story the same way as you would create a songfic. The possibilities, while probably finite, are rather extensive.
Play by the rules, but more importantly: Have fun.
Summary: October-November 2004
Have you ever thought that you do not belong among the Mud Men? That is because you have fairy blood in your veins.
...let us have some fun! Create your own take on the forever perplexing problem of Mud Fairies. They are Canon, thanks to the translation of the Centurian from TAI, but we know so little about their race, situation, history, or realities. Therefore we can let our hair down, skull some perky juice to get the imagination working overtime, and let the fingers do the musing. The story must contain more than one Mud Fairy, with no maximum limit as to how many mud fairies get a mention or play a part. The Mud Fairies may be completely new characters, completely canon characters, real historical figures, or one-liners from the books. You may or may not capitalize the words 'Mud Fairy', since we don't know either way. You may even have a mud fairy with purple eyes, if you are so inclined.
You must mention Mozart, a laptop, and the words 'renunciation' and 'androgynous'.
Summary: November-December 2004
We've all caught a copy of The Artemis Fowl Files by now, so it's time we started to use it, not just denounce Colfer's mistakes. The challenge is simple: Utilise one or more ideas, concepts, or random thoughts which have only been told to us in the Files. One of the more reasonable facts, or something as implausible as the *shudder*... David Bowie moment. The main idea must come from one of the files themselves, not from either The Seventh Dwarf or LEPrecon, although of course the information in those two may be used in the fic. Or, for those who haven't yet found a copy of the Files, and in honour of 'Author's Day' which is celebrated on the 1st of November (a coincidence that the first is also All Saints Day?) then write a story in which Eoin Colfer becomes a character, for however small a cameo. (Or for whatever nasty purpose tickles your fancy...)
You must mention cake, citronella candles (the candles which ward off bugs), rainbow, and doorstop.
Summary: December 2004-January 2005
"I'm dreeaamin' of a Fooowwl Christmaaas..." Write a holiday fic that takes place immediately after the first Artemis Fowl book with a setting centered around (but not limited to) Fowl Manor. This means Artemis and his mother just had a happy reunion after Angeline's return to sanity, and they are prepared to celebrate Christmas and/or New Year's Day. Tell us how Artemis spent his holidays with his mother and the rest of the household. Include some of Artemis' reflections on recent events, like the return of Angeline's mental health, his criminal life, his morals, etc. The plot does not have to concentrate on these reflections, but something of the sort should be incorporated. You must include the phrase 'genetically modified swordfish tasting like cheddar', and the word 'holly' (the plant) or 'Holly' (the LEP Recon captain). Creativity with the swordfish will definitely earn you a bonus from the judges.
Thanks to Annoying Schizoid for this challenge suggestion!
Summary: January-February 2005
In the spirit of St Valentine's day (and Love Shack by the B-52s) lets get down and jiggy, and make the characters of AF do the same in a LOVE QUADRILATERAL. By 'Love Quadrilateral', I do not mean that Arty and Holly snog for hours on your school playground (that's a love quadrangle), but that if Arty and Holly are going to snog, then Artemis has to be wondering if Butler would be better, and Butler has to have secret fantasies about Opal Koboi. See how complicated a love triangle gets when you add in a forth person; I assure you, it'll be fun. The definition of a 'Love Quadrilateral' is "any situation with four characters and conflicting soap-opera-style relationships" (thanks Anordir).
And, as usual, the Crim Features, this time being: A character, however minor or major in the plot, taken from another book/movie/TV show (ie a crossover). A collection of dictionaries. And a Tinkerbell/other Disney character watch.
Summary: February - March 2005
Write a fic that is entirely in a scrapbook
format, and by that we mean: As for the eccentricities, the fic must include a quote (preferably from literature), the word "weaved", and the devouring of at least 3 internal organs in the form of theoretically exotic dishes. Now, just so you're sure what we mean by a mandatory scrapbook format, here's an example of an e-mail followed by a diary entry: ---------------------------------------------
Summary: March-April 2005
Come one, come all, because Artemis is in a dress. *The Fires of Industry grind to a halt.* Well, that's entirely up to you, because this challenge is all about Cross-Dressing. Well, not all about, it just has to include an incident in which gender distinctions are discarded in favour of a dress or a pair of trousers. (Note, the classification of cross-dressing does not only encompass males in female clothing, but ONLY includes females-in-male clothing if this is somehow controversial for the context of the fic. Juliet in jeans is not an example of cross-dressing; Vinyáya dressing as a male to get into the LEP with a false Y-chromosome is). Maybe you can look at feminism in either world? Or possibly an undercover operation, where Root shoves Foaly into a skirt and paints his hooves purple? Perhaps St Bartleby's has a proposal for an performing an accurate rendition of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, with Artemis as Titania?
Or, perhaps, on St. Patrick's Day, (the 17th of March always having been held as a day of national pride, celebration, GREEN, Guinness, and excessive drinking for the Irish) someone, because of the excessive drinking and the Guinness mentioned above, switches a few items of clothing around. Why St Patrick's Day? Because that is the necessary inclusion in this fic. It doesn't have to be a significant part of the story, and it does not have to be set on the 17th, but the day or the saint must be dealt with in some (however large or small) manner.
Summary: April-May 2005
"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll Aren't you lucky we're only asking you to write Three Impossible Things? And you can have breakfast first. That's what I said. Alternative Universes. Three of them. Don't run yet! Did Alice run from the Red Queen before the croquet match proved they were all loony? You get to discard Canon in favour of a good story. No longer will Holly's gender stand in the way! No longer will you have to acknowledge that Briar didn't survive TAI! WWI doesn't have to have happened, you know... Think of what you can do. You have to create three separate AU takes on the Artemis Fowl universe. The changed event can be as small or as large as you want it to be. What if Juliet got her Blue Diamond the first time round, what happens then? She might have been more confident, the situation in the Manor might have happened differently with Loafers getting disposed of early and Mulch being killed with a well-thrown knife, and the situation in Chicago would be completely different.
You can either look at the different situation, or the effects that happen afterwards because of the alternate event.
You have to have three separate stories or drabbles, each with a separate AU (though the AUs can, but don't have to build on the one from before). Check out the Alternative Universe section under genre, and the works by Jude to see how AU can be explored.
Summary: May-June 2005
The Fowl line is an ancient one, but perhaps, like any old family, they have fluctuated between good and bad, legal and illegal... The Butlers have been by their sides for generations, but surely there is more to the Butlers than their duty to the Fowls... The challenge this month is to write something centering around the history of the Fowl and/or Butler families. The story can span generations, focus on a single character (such as Lord Hugo de Fole, the Major, or an Original Character), or be set with Artemis II alluding/refering to his ancestors. To insure entries are written for this challenge, each entry must utilise repetition. This can be of a single word, theme or phrase; the ending can be similar to the beginning; the story of the ancestor(s) can echo Artemis II's world.
Most importantly,
(Criminality thanks Annoying Schizoid for this challenge.)
Summary: August-September 2005
Global mythology, legends, and folkstories contain a lot more ammunition for stories than simply fairies and leprechauns. The Celts alone had a pantheon of half-swans, changelings, three-headed gods and malevolent giants. Most cultures in the world have some notion of a dragon, or a phoenix, even though these cultures developed with little contact between them. And we haven't touched on the Pegasus or the minotaur; vampires or the toothfairy; the winged-lion of Venetian heraldry, or even San D'Klass and his exiled Haven elves, squatting on the North Pole real-estate. Your challenge: to use an article of 'mythology' in your fic. Assume this mythological fact is true in the AF Universe. Fairies, trolls, and all Canon does not fufill Criminality's requirements for an element of 'mythology'. All legends, folktales, old wives tales, common misconceptions, Lies-To-Children etc. are included in our definition of 'mythology'. What is the creature or place or being? Where is it? And how come the humans haven't discovered it yet? Better yet, will Artemis attempt to kidnap it and hold it to ransom when humans do discover it? You must include a candle, a flickering light-bulb, and a description of a scent.
Enjoy. I know we will.
Summary: September - October 2005
Your challenge is to incorporate or use as inspiration at least one of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20: 1-17. The story does not have to be either Christian or religious in anyway, but has to use one (or more) of the principles as recognisable inspiration.
The Commandments are as follows: They can be viewed in a more complete form here. You must include a crossword puzzle or reference to a crossword puzzle.
Thanks to HP100 for allowing us use of their Challenge #118.
Summary: October - November 2005
In The Eternity Code we first caught a glimpse of Artemis Fowl the First turning over a new leaf and leaving the world of crime behind him, much to Arty's consternation. Artemis himself slipped a few times - who would have thought he would be able to give money away? This months' challenge is to write a fic centering around and/or inspired by the notion of redemption. Many of the AF characters have a foot on the path to redemption from lives of crime, or may be completely irredeemable, so it shouldn't be too difficult to whip something together, yes? It should relate to a character's quest for redemption, the lack thereof, or the concept of redemption. You must include a crossword puzzle.
Thanks to HP100 for allowing us use of their Challenge #85.
Summary: November - December 2005
Write a fic from the point of view of a non-central Canon character. The fic can be a retelling of a scene from one of the books, or it can be a completely new scene. It must center around a character who is named in the books, not one of your own creation. The fic does not have to be in first person (eg. I went to the shops), but it can not be omniscient point of view which knows everything (eg Sally went to the shops because she was sad, but Juliet went to the shops thinking 'today is a nice day').
For the sake of the challenge central Canon characters are: Artemis Fowl II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Foaly, Julius Root, Mulch Diggums, Juliet Butler, Opal Koboi. (For anyone wanting an explanation of this list I included any character who is important in two or more books.)
Summary: December 2005 - January 2006
Step One: View Photograph here
Use the image as inspiration for a fic or scene. You do not have to directly feature the photograph/scene, but your use of the image must be obvious. The use of the emotive aspects of the photograph is not enough to show a direct link and will not be accepted.
You must include the words: laugh, seen and boat. |
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Original skin designed by Sally Anderson and edited by Brightness. |
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