Planting Easter Eggs?

[jaF0]

If you're not familiar with the term, it involves tidbits of trivia or cultural references buried in the story somewhere. Movies have done it too. Maybe something completely out of place for the storyline.


I'm considering doing it in something I'm working on. Fragments of lyrics built into dialog, or scene descriptions for example. I wouldn't use enough of any one to get into the grey areas, just a few words. Possibly several related to a common theme from different artists, songs or books. Things that are rolling around in my head that bring up the artist or song instantly, but not sure others would known them at all. Might be interesting to see if anybody picked them up and commented.


So, have you played with people's minds?


Side question .... would it be necessary to provide a list of attributes at the end?

 

[TadOverdon]

Side question .... would it be necessary to provide a list of attributes at the end?

Aw, if someone calls you on it call it an "homage." As Robert Parker had Spencer say to that playwright, "it always is."

I filched seven words of dialogue from Firefly for a throwaway remark in the last chapter of a book. The reason for doing an Easter Egg is not to look clever and pretend it's yours but in the hope that the reader will recognize the source and smile along with you. You're sorta kinda hoping that you're both in the same "club."

 

[KeithD]

I do a bit of this. I've used it most of the time in the form of when a character is encountered reading a book, it's revealed to be one I've written and has been published. I don't make a big deal out of it, but there it is.

I've just sent a pen name novella to the publisher in which the protagonist writes a novel based on his experiences with a group of other gay men interacting in Antibes, France, in 1940, as they wait for the Germans to arrive and suppress them. The story is about their experiences in 1940, not about the novel. I'm now starting another novella in a different pen name that will unfold while the movie of the novel, directed by one of the characters in the first book, is being filmed. Those will just be easter eggs for the followers of both pen names to discover and, I hope, savor. I won't link them any more than that. I'll enjoy having done them, though.

 

[jaF0]

One of my all time favorites was "American Pie" with Arcadia Lake.

It's taboo and has some implied incest. Story is about two sisters kidnapped for ransom. But they find they enjoy what's happening and get in on the calls to their father demanding money. There are a few scenes of them in the same room and as I recall some of their mother and their 'uncle'.

The sister played by Lake is told by the kidnapper that he's about to fuck her to which she replies 'promises, promises'.

 

[lovecraft68]

I thought Easter Eggs were when you allude to prior or future works in your works?

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

I like the idea of having a few consistent environmental things across my stories. Not sure if that qualifies as an easter egg. It would include things like the same fictional radio station appearing in multiple stories or something along those lines.

As for little homages, I have a line from You Only Live Twice in an upcoming story. Where Sean Connory asks a woman he’s just slept with, "Why do Asian girls taste different from all other girls." It’s a silly little line that stuck with me when I watched that movie and I thought it would suit the spoof-spy vibe of the story. Most readers will probably look at it and just think I’m a bit weird but that’s okay. I’m doing it for my own entertainment.

 

[Handley_Page]

I recall Gibbs addressing Ducky as "Illya"
Does that count as an Easter Egg?

 

[TadOverdon]

I thought Easter Eggs were when you allude to prior or future works in your works?

Yeah, generally it's planting a reference to some other work, usually seems to be with the intent of amusing the audience who recognize it rather than for thematic significance or anything like that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So, have you played with people's minds?

I leave Easter eggs all the time.

If it's a cultural reference I'll usually cue it in directly - I've referenced Leonard Cohen, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin directly, to name singers; and Jessica Lange in The Postman Always Rings Twice as an example of a movie.

My sci-fi story in the first Geek Anthology references HAL 9000, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, J.G.Ballard and the Apollo 11 moon landing directly - my landing sequence on Titan is a direct lift of the radio transcript. If anyone spotted it, they didn't comment.

My story world constantly rotates in on itself, which usually means a character in one story will be a side character in another, or a regular bit character will get a story of their own. I've got collaborative stories where one of my characters crosses over into another writer's world, and vice versa; and I've had other writers borrow characters for their own stories, Sliding Doors style. That's pretty special.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I made mention of the Peter Steele Memorial Game in a clubbing scene: first person to spot people wearing velcro, latex, fur, and feathers wins.

 

[jaF0]

Yeah, generally it's planting a reference to some other work, usually seems to be with the intent of amusing the audience who recognize it rather than for thematic significance or anything like that.

That's where I intend to go.

Drop shit in that really doesn't have anything to do with the story in hopes it makes the reader recognize it and go ... 'Huh?"

Once I get a couple of them written in, I might post examples here.

 

[SamScribble]

I tend to do it to suggest what else might be going on in the narrator's mind.

 

[PennameWombat]

I like the idea of having a few consistent environmental things across my stories. Not sure if that qualifies as an easter egg. It would include things like the same fictional radio station appearing in multiple stories or something along those lines. <snip>

I have KPUD, a television station that shows up regularly.

I leave Easter eggs all the time.

If it's a cultural reference I'll usually cue it in directly - I've referenced Leonard Cohen, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin directly, to name singers; and Jessica Lange in The Postman Always Rings Twice as an example of a movie.

My sci-fi story in the first Geek Anthology references HAL 9000, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, J.G.Ballard and the Apollo 11 moon landing directly - my landing sequence on Titan is a direct lift of the radio transcript. If anyone spotted it, they didn't comment.

My story world constantly rotates in on itself, which usually means a character in one story will be a side character in another, or a regular bit character will get a story of their own. I've got collaborative stories where one of my characters crosses over into another writer's world, and vice versa; and I've had other writers borrow characters for their own stories, Sliding Doors style. That's pretty special.

I have some shared universes across many of my stories, the universes don’t overlap but within each it’s fair game that any character or event from that universe might get mentioned or wander through for a cameo in any story set there, although different stories key on certain characters.

I’ve dropped references to a variety of religions, events, politicians and celebrities. In part it’s just fun but for those who get it, it adds some context to timing and place.

One of my favourites is working indirect mention of the Super League War into the flow of a story.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

All... the... time.

Easter eggs and absurd trivia are everywhere in my stories. I have an almost crippling inability to keep from doing it. One of my readers recently commented that he knows much more Sumerian and Klingon than he had ever thought he'd know before he began reading my stories. Literary and pop culture references are EVERYWHERE.

And I love doing it. I really do. I smile or grin stupidly when I add a corker. It makes me happy.

 

[RetroFan]

I put an Easter Egg in a Loving Wives story I wrote recently. It was called 'Sister-In-Law Surveillance' and the characters all had the surnames of famous spies notably the Cambridge Five - Burgess, Maclean, Philby, Blunt and Cairncross. Another character had the surname 'Wake', named after WW2 allied spy Nancy Wake, a New Zealander code named 'The White Mouse'.

In another story I wrote last year, 'My Nephew Got Into My Knickers', I tied quite a few of my Australian stories together in the same universe by having the lead character and narrator Emily having met characters from these stories at various parts of her life.

One of the LW readers did pick up the Easter Egg in that story, but the IT readers largely seemed indifferent to the one in their story.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

I recall Gibbs addressing Ducky as "Illya"
Does that count as an Easter Egg?

I think it does; it made me smile when Tony asked Gibbs what Ducky had looked like when he was young and Gibbs replied 'Ilya Kuryakin'

Will does it in his stories, little hints that there's a connection with another of his story universes, usually a name or a location. He'll mention it once, en passant, he doesn't browbeat the reader with it, but a surprising number of people have commented that they made the connection because he'd dropped-in that one clue in passing. He says he does it for for fun, just to see who's paying attention, but a couple times it has led to connecting stories appearing that tie two entirely independent story arcs together ('Nia' to 'Lost Girl' to 'Big Girls Don't Cry' to 'Rag Doll', all have been tied together because of Easter Eggs he dropped in one or the other) and he's just done it again with his draft story 'Help me Rhonda', an easter egg that links it to 'Soldier Doll', just a name dropped in passing, but enough to give the clue to anyone who's read his other story arcs.

 

[jaF0]

The only Illya I can recall is Kuryakin.

If that isn't the right one, I may have to cry Uncle.

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

I use Easter Eggs a lot, especially musical references. A fair few stories/series have names taken from songs, albums or lyrics and many characters refer to songs that resonate with them.

When I was late into my fantasy story 'Just Another Lost Angel', I still didn't have a title. As it was well established that Brooke had been through many lives and had lived and died in LA in the late sixties, she mentions an affair with Jim Morrison and jokingly refers that he wrote 'LA Woman' about her. That gave me the title, with a reference to the lyrics.

One part in 'Beth's Summer Break' has chapter titles from Metallica's 'Enter Sandman', which reflect Beth's mood as she approaches her big moment in the story and she whistles the song 'tuneless and nervously' as she awaits her fate.

Maybe my biggest Easter Egg hunt has been 'The Amberdown Rebellion,' a fantasy based on the cast of 'Beth's Summer Break' where the characters appear in an Elfin pastiche of themselves, allegedly written by one of the cast members. Few have read it, but it was fun to do.

I write and publish my own music and for my last magnum opus, the track names all began with the initials of my favourite leading ladies from my stories. (I have stopped trying to explain word salad titles to the sad few who have heard it!)

All great, harmless fun and to me adds to the appeal of a story and provides nuance to the character in question.

And probably says a lot about me....

 

[Blind_Justice]

I've done it in my 2019 Geek Pride day submission "Mud & Magic 1-3" and asked the readsrs to find the 13 geek references I placed. Thing is, unless you really really put it out there, very few people will notice. I put in everything from Marvel references to an Overwatch nod to Skyrim quips (NOT the "Arrow to the knee" bit though) and got zero takers.

I'm trying again this year, song lyrics only. Lets see if that turns out any different.

 

[KeithD]

I think that a limited number of readers "getting it" is one of the basic elements of being an Easter egg.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I think that a limited number of readers "getting it" is one of the basic elements of being and Easter egg.

Agree. If everyone "got it", then it's just a reference.

It's not something I've really thought about including.

 

[jaF0]

Shit like this:


Alice was now mid 20s, Jill and I were a year or so younger. Charlotte was about our age and Mary and a couple of the others had either just turned 20, or were about to. Mary needed a lot of confidence and that one night was just the beginning. She was enjoying her time over the last few weeks with Alice, but neither of them really told me what they were doing. Despite all we had shared, Alice still had a lot of secrets. All I could gather was that all the young girls really loved Alice and often wondered if it would be their turn that day.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Shit like this:


Alice was now mid 20s, Jill and I were a year or so younger. Charlotte was about our age and Mary and a couple of the others had either just turned 20, or were about to. Mary needed a lot of confidence and that one night was just the beginning. She was enjoying her time over the last few weeks with Alice, but neither of them really told me what they were doing. Despite all we had shared, Alice still had a lot of secrets. All I could gather was that all the young girls really loved Alice and often wondered if it would be their turn that day.

Did you live next door to Alice?

 

[Blind_Justice]

Did you live next door to Alice?

Who the fuck is Alice?

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Who the fuck is Alice?

Obscure arcane reference to a 1970's English band Smokie's hit single 'Living Next Door To Alice'. I got it because I love the song, himself has never heard of it, so he was scratching his head too.