The Pub Discussion Board

I guess I was talking in general but I was wondering if you guys (authors) hide little things in your stories that have reference to your real life or maybe just obscure links to your other stories that are not in the same universe.

Explicit references to my real life? No. There'd be no one but me to find them anyway. Links between stories that aren't connected? Not that I can recall, but then that's the sort of thing I'd drop in either semi-consciously or with a momentary grin and then forget about as the mind was taxed with the task of finishing the story.

I do have stories in the same universe that aren't (yet) obviously so. (Two such stories are posted here, but there are no direct links between them; it's up to future stories to make the connection.) People who've read my novels would recognize characters in "Dick Jones," but I don't think of that as an easter egg. I suppose that's all it would be until the future novel appears that makes something of the connection, but I think of "easter egg" as a fun bonus rather than an intention of deeper meaning, and my delusions of grandeur lead me to the latter affliction. I wouldn't want to mislead readers into thinking that a particular story exists in the bigger universe if it didn't.

Hmm... I think that's as convoluted an answer as I can contrive today.

Nah, although most of mine are based on a somewhat common theme - they tend to be set in or around Brighton, and often include its utter destruction. XD

I just tend to make them very consistant within themselves - if I mention a place, it doesn't move later.  Or if a spaceship goes to Mars at .5c, I make damn sure it takes roughly fifteen minutes (about how long it would take, the distance apart that the Earth and Mars were at the time).

CSquared

I've just remembered something, actually.  I sometimes slip somewhat obscure song lyrics into text, be it narrative, dialogue or anything else you can think of.  They have no emphasis attached to them, and it would take a pretty wide-ranging musical knowledge to really notice them.  In short, if you notice something in one of my stories that sounds like you heard it in a song, chances are it's there by design, not fortune.

I suppose that's a bit of an easter egg, but it's really more something I do to inject a little fun into writing when I find it a drag.

CSquared

Fruitcake Lovers has three movie quotes in it. Nobody has ever found all of them.

Ace

yea i caught  that also the two female clan leaders were references to Eve and Lilith or that at least what i I surmised when i was reading it

Last edited by Neitherspace (2007-04-03 01:10:20)

Net_Wolf made a funny....
(I laughed at least)

What can I say? I think the most well known literary work is the bible. It is the one work you can almost always be sure that your readers have viewed at some point. Modern movies are usually a good bet, but you can never be certain. If you want the reference to be easy to see quote something huge. "Strike me down and I will become more powerful than..." If you don't want people to catch it, "Secrets...we have lots of secretes. Some say secrets are kept in the heart. Lets find out." use something unlikely to be uncovered.

I like to quote a little of everything, movies, books, personal conversations I have had with others and with myself. Character names are some of the most common references to make. Personally I tend to be afraid when I feel a storyline is becoming too similar to that of another. I have a natural fear of conformity and a loss of individuality. (I am not a team player...unless I'm in charge.) I think that comes out a lot in my writing.

Happy hunting,
Khellendros

"As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Meat is the anagram of team... I don't know what he was talking about."