Oh, references to other books, of course. Characters from folk tales, or bits of dialogue.
Easter Eggs
One of the things I love about writing is dropping in Easter eggs, either for my own amusement, or for readers to find them.
I like to play with room numbers, names of restaurants, minor characters, that sort of thing, or refer to pop culture in some other way. For example, in The Jackpot, I have a character drinking from an Oceanic Airlines coffee mug as an homage to Lost.
What sort of goodies do you all hide in your work?
I like to play with room numbers, names of restaurants, minor characters, that sort of thing, or refer to pop culture in some other way. For example, in The Jackpot, I have a character drinking from an Oceanic Airlines coffee mug as an homage to Lost.
What sort of goodies do you all hide in your work?
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Every one of my books contains a [now deceased] cat I've had at some point in my life (we're big cat people at Casa Fredster) as a character. Er, well, as much as a cat can be one, that is.
In The Convert, I referenced a company and minor character from No Limit.
In The Convert, I referenced a company and minor character from No Limit.
I have a very minor character named "Cid" that follows one of the airship captains around. Its a homage to Final Fantasy's Cid. There are also references to times. 6:20, 12:15 and 5:08. The time traveler seems to think they are important, but they are actually nothing more than the Dates my books were released. June 20. Dec 15. May 8. I missed the May 8 one so he kinda freaks out about it.
In The End of the World (which is actually the name of a bed & breakfast in the book...kind of), the protagonist meets a fellow tenant, an Eastern European woman, with whom he has a lengthy and quite startling discussion. At the end of the scene, as she's leaving the room, he insists on knowing her name. She finally relents, turning and telling him, "My name is Luka. I live on the second floor."
I like anagrams as names, and tend to drop a couple of them in. I'm not going to give all of them away (shameless plug goes here), but one of the easier ones to spot is a character whose last name is Kendisc and writes books. (In short, a nod to Charles Dickens.)
That made me laugh! I just had to buy your book. I didn't even look to see what it was about!Andrew Biss said:In The End of the World (which is actually the name of a bed & breakfast in the book...kind of), the protagonist meets a fellow tenant, an Eastern European woman, with whom he has a lengthy and quite startling discussion. At the end of the scene, as she's leaving the room, he insists on knowing her name. She finally relents, turning and telling him, "My name is Luka. I live on the second floor."
Well, gosh, thanks so much, Emily! I do hope you enjoy it!EmilyG said:That made me laugh! I just had to buy your book. I didn't even look to see what it was about!
Love and unicorn rainbow farts on you, fellow FFer!!SBJones said:I have a very minor character named "Cid" that follows one of the airship captains around. Its a homage to Final Fantasy's Cid. There are also references to times. 6:20, 12:15 and 5:08. The time traveler seems to think they are important, but they are actually nothing more than the Dates my books were released. June 20. Dec 15. May 8. I missed the May 8 one so he kinda freaks out about it.
Kweh!
Please tell which book contains Tubby. I was his biggest fan!Fredster said:Every one of my books contains a [now deceased] cat I've had a some point in my life (we're big cat people at Casa Fredster).
In The Convert, I referenced a company and minor character from No Limit.
After all, he was the king of "Meh."
Same. I hide references to my other books. It's a blast when readers report finding them.Masha du Toit said:Oh, references to other books, of course. Characters from folk tales, or bits of dialogue.
I remember that coffee mug from Jackpot, David!
Hmmm, maybe I could slip in an Alfred Hitchcock sighting in my books.
Hmmm, maybe I could slip in an Alfred Hitchcock sighting in my books.
The address of one of my characters is the address of my childhood home.
I did in Gettysburg, 1913 and in the end matter, asked if anyone had spotted it and pointed them to my website for the answer. Specifically:
Did you spot the literary "Easter Egg" in the following paragraph from Chapter 2?
During the War both of the Sullivans had served in General John Buford's famed division in the 8th Regiment Illinois Cavalry; not just at Gettysburg but also earlier at Antietam and Fredericksburg. It had been that Illinois connection that put them into the confidence of the Earps even before they moved down to Tombstone. Up in Prescott in 1878 they began regularly playing cards with Virgil Earp, the town's constable and a veteran of the 83rd Illinois Infantry during the War, and the war veterans from the same home state took a shine to one another.
-------------------------------
The answer: actor Sam Elliott played both of the historical characters mentioned in the paragraph - General John Buford and lawman Virgil Earp - in the movies Gettysburg and Tombstone, respectively. Further, both of those movies are from the same year: 1993.
Did you spot the literary "Easter Egg" in the following paragraph from Chapter 2?
During the War both of the Sullivans had served in General John Buford's famed division in the 8th Regiment Illinois Cavalry; not just at Gettysburg but also earlier at Antietam and Fredericksburg. It had been that Illinois connection that put them into the confidence of the Earps even before they moved down to Tombstone. Up in Prescott in 1878 they began regularly playing cards with Virgil Earp, the town's constable and a veteran of the 83rd Illinois Infantry during the War, and the war veterans from the same home state took a shine to one another.
-------------------------------
The answer: actor Sam Elliott played both of the historical characters mentioned in the paragraph - General John Buford and lawman Virgil Earp - in the movies Gettysburg and Tombstone, respectively. Further, both of those movies are from the same year: 1993.
Oh, all the time...my favourite two are the fact that my MC's email address is real (and I've had a couple of readers email it), and the fact that I set up a Fanfiction.net account for her years ago so it would age with her. >_<
In my new episodes, that I will hopefully have out tonight, I have one character say, "If you want to live, you'll come with me" so he paraphrased Terminator and in the same episode there are two cops that are too old for this s*** referencing Lethal Weapon
Ooh, that sounds fun!Rin said:Oh, all the time...my favourite two are the fact that my MC's email address is real (and I've had a couple of readers email it), and the fact that I set up a Fanfiction.net account for her years ago so it would age with her. >_<
My story is kind of a parody, so definitely lots of references. I had an archery contest (Brave), someone recommend my protagonist wear glass slippers to the ball (Cinderella obviously), and food references to McDonald's and Proust's madeleines and English trifles. Needless to say I enjoy my research
One of my characters is a Duke who goes down to the family crypt every morning to honor his parents. He brings his ceremonial mourning towel and walks down forty-two steps.
A lot of my characters play video games so I made some up:
Slug Wars 1 and 2 and Innocent Bystander.
I also had a main character in a short story see a movie based on another one of my books. I overlap made-up settings, books that are read, tv shows whatever through all my works.
Slug Wars 1 and 2 and Innocent Bystander.
I also had a main character in a short story see a movie based on another one of my books. I overlap made-up settings, books that are read, tv shows whatever through all my works.
I did this on purpose for one of the stories in my short story collection. In Hatchling I tell that the people look for dragon eggs in China, Japan, Sweden and Norway, that people used to find dragon eggs at a way younger age and that the house in the convent has a total of 11 girls and 3 boys. There are a couple more but these I've always found the most fun. This story was written in the same style and with the same idea of exploring a theme as Primo Levi's The Great Mutation.
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