What do you include that readers probably don't notice?

[THBGato]

I was really thrilled this morning to discover that @joy_of_cooking had spotted my punctuation joke in one of my stories.

Me: Yeah, but you do realise that as a Cambridge graduate I'm allergic to Oxford commas? I hope this means we can still be friends?

Priya: Our friendship will weather this storm, future storms, and your allergy to Oxford commas.

It got me thinking, how much do we as writers put into our stories that most readers will probably never notice. I'm reminded of @AwkwardMD telling us about how she'd used gaming references in her story The Perfect Storm, which had gone completely over my head when I'd read it.

So, share your brilliant references and literary touches that you don't think anyone will ever notice.

I'll start.

Recently, I used the description "sloe black" in a story. I bet 99% of readers think it's a typo.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I tend to drop in a lot of Doors and Leonard Cohen references, although I do acknowledge Morrison and Cohen in the text, so they're not really hidden.

 

[Bazzle]

Writing one of the 750 word stories based on @EmilyMiller AI picture of "Juliana Jones" I littered the story with lyrics from Aqua's song Dr Jones.

Wasted

B

 

[lovecraft68]

Characters and places from other stories. I once used titles to older stories as the names of porn videos a mother found on her son's computer. Random song lyrics, comic book references, horror movie references. Not sure who picks up on them and who doesn't, unless its a specific comment calling it out, so I think this falls under writing for myself because it amuses me more than the readership.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I included the phrase, ‘beware of stobor!’ in one tale. I was pretty delighted when one comment recognized the Heinlein link.

 

[AchtungNight]

I often put jokes related to the celebrity’s career, name, background, and/or personality in my fanfics. Sometimes they are more plot devices than jokes. Examples- In Two Cats in Heat, Cat Osterman and Reddick are two very curious individuals hiding their bisexual polyamory in plain sight. They also tend to get very cuddly and vocal during sex. Much like felines. The Passion of Erika CHRISTensen is about a young religious righteous reformer challenging the foundations of people’s expectations of someone like her. There are more than a few Bible homages. In the end, it’s more about her passion for enjoying sex and life and encouragement of the same in others than any religious stuff, though- this is an erotica site, after all. Consider the references roasting and satire. There are other similar gags throughout my stories, not always obvious.

I also include references to my other stories and occasional jokes about the way I wish the real world was.

 

[Omenainen]

References to my other stories. References to Finnish culture. All inside jokes and things from my relationships with other authors. I don’t expect anyone to notice these, except for the last point.

 

[MrPixel]

I'll drop-in something out of a 1960's Saturday morning cartoon every so often. Favorite these days is in the banter between the MMC and FMC, where one plays a practical joke on the other, such as her pantsing him in a hardware store, "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it." It's the catchphrase from Super Chicken, part of the George of the Jungle franchise. I've also used bits from The Road Runner and Rocky & Bulwinkle, most recently "Acme Corporation".

 

[EmilyMiller]

What do you include that readers probably don't notice?​

A bunch of stuff. Jokes that are so obscure that the chances of other people getting them are tiny. Pop-culture references (particularly to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and various Whedonverse things). Latin silliness FFS, so Caputpedes, David’s home planet in The Coleoidphila Trilogy, is just a Latin rendering of the Greek Cephalopod.

All of At Whorey’s Piers (including the title) is suffused with plays on actual Jersey Shore place names and even specific rides at the water park setting.

I wrote a vaguely adjacent thread to this about jokes in which I referred to The Giant Squid of Cumatra (a Conan Doyle reference). Which also mentioned:

“[…] many of the supporting cast of Teaching Eden, are gender-swapped versions of cast members from The Haunting of Hill House.”

I also include little real life things in even my wholly fabricated stories. Something the FMC did, clothing, a location etc.

Emily

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

... so I think this falls under writing for myself because it amuses me more than the readership.

Pretty much this. I'm tickled by my own (perceived) cleverness sometimes. I've included quotes from movies and pop culture references. In one story, I named all my characters after those in a video game franchise.

Every now and then, some reader will call it out, but most of the time, they don't. Either way, it's okay.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Writing one of the 750 word stories based on @EmilyMiller AI picture of "Juliana Jones" I littered the story with lyrics from Aqua's song Dr Jones.

Wasted

B

I found it funny

 

[lovecraft68]

Pretty much this. I'm tickled by my own (perceived) cleverness sometimes. I've included quotes from movies and pop culture references. In one story, I named all my characters after those in a video game franchise.

Every now and then, some reader will call it out, but most of the time, they don't. Either way, it's okay.

I have a character named Abigail Lefay. I introduced her in a series here years ago, and over time she became the star of my erotic horror series. The story that featured her on here received a comment three years later, asking me if this was the same Abigail who was born on 7/7/1777? Someone finally caught on that she was inspired by the King Diamond album Abigail(and props to the reader for using his own obscure reference to test me), but he spelled it "Le'Fay" But that was still only half because the name-and the fact she's in a coven-is also a homage to Levay as in Anton, so its a combo of influences. But only a couple times has someone gotten one or the other

 

[intim8]

I think the term you're looking for is "Easter eggs".

I've dropped at least one Firefly reference. Can't recall others offhand, but I'm sure I have keft a few in various places.

 

[THBGato]

I think the term you're looking for is "Easter eggs".

Maybe. I think you could certainly include Easter Eggs here, yet my (poor) punctuation joke isn't an Easter Egg, but I wonder how many readers notice that Priya uses an Oxford comma in her reply.

 

[KeithD]

I have a few such uses. One is that one "recognition" element in the hooking-up phase in GM stories is with one guy seeing that the other guy is reading a novel the first guy knows is GM. Sometimes I use a real classic GM book, like Gordon Merrick's The Lord Won't Mind. Other times, though, I use one of my own published GM books in pen name. In the latter case, I have to identify the book as GM in the narrative, of course.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've dropped at least one Firefly reference.

"Alexa! Stimulator. Stop. Video. Stop."

The image of the cum-covered girl vanished and the arm packed itself away. I heard its cleaning cycle start.

"Alexa! Lights off."

I snuggled down. The stimulator did its job, clinically, efficiently. But it had been months now with nothing twixt my legs that wasn't run on electricity. I closed my eyes and surrendered to sleep.

— Coleoidphilia

Emily

 

[StillStunned]

I included the phrase, ‘beware of stobor!’ in one tale. I was pretty delighted when one comment recognized the Heinlein link.

One of my favourite books when I was in my early teens. I liked Heinlein's young adult stuff a lot more than his later, heavier, let's-analyse-and-criticise-society works.

Also, I always wondered whether it was deliberate that "stobor" was "robots" spelled backwards.

References to Finnish culture.

In a recent story, I have a character wearing Moomin underwear.

 

[FifthEstate]

This response is a little off topic as it was a readers response that acknowledged my semi-humorous play and made me laugh.

In my story series Warden’s Wife Pays His Debt, the sex offending MC Mylo Dickenson, tells a disgusted judge at his trial that his surname should be pronounced Dick-is-in similar to the way HOF QB Brett Favre’s is pronounced Farve.

A reader sent me a note saying “I love the “Warden’s Wife” series and can’t wait for the next installment. FifthEstate you are a veritable Charles Dick-ins (to steal from you)!”

 

[MillieDynamite]

Sometimes, one of my characters' full names is a combination of a real film celebrity's name and a character they played. Theodora Drummond's first name was inspired by the first name of a silent film star, Theda Bara (Theodosia Burr Goodman was her full real name), and Drummond was from the Bulldog Drummond series of mysteries. Lots of such easter eggs in many of my stories.

 

[Writer61]

I often use pictures of women with the same name and/or physical appearance as a character to help me fix them in my head. Nobody could be sure that blonde named Fifi refers to that Fifi off the telly.

I sometimes include references to popular culture; my current story has a section title that refers to a Fawlty Towers episode. A draft of another includes a subtitle that is a quote from Douglas Adams. These may not pass the final edit, but they help me with structure.

 

[orangecurious]

Song lyrics/Titles feature a lot - like to drop them in here and there, including titles of stories.

Also, silly jokes only I would get, silly sayings, etc. In a forthcoming story there is a character with the same name as another character in a different series, but they both like photography.

There are also a few recurring phrases, etc.

it keeps me amused.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Mentions of characters from other stories. Several of whom have ended up with their own spin-off stories.

Random references to places, events, song lyrics. My character Adrian quotes from Tom Robinson's Rum, Thunderbird, which is relevant as he's managed to give up drugs and smoking over the years and uses sex as a substitute.

Was naming some characters the other day and thought about calling someone's ex Mal. Would readers immediately think of Mal from Firefly? I figure yes, quite likely, and also that that would work.

 

[KeithD]

Mentions of characters from other stories. Several of whom have ended up with their own spin-off stories.

Ah, yes, that happened in the story I just finished writing. In "Forced Layover," a young musician has his flight unexpectedly end in Rome and his adventure there starts when he asks a randy count for directions. In my most recent story, my protagonist unexpectedly (to me, when I was conceiving the story) winds up in Rome, needing directions . . . and there's the randy count.

 

[Writer61]

Forgot to mention that one of my published stories, and a couple that are WIP, include characters inspired by politicians who would be horrified at the things I have them doing (or would they?).

 

[tenyari]

I usually have at least one scene that is based off of a song lyric or the entire song. But the song genres are usually either Reggae, Romanticas, or Bachata so I've had to have a reader tell me they spotted it.