An Easter egg is like an in-joke: if you know something about the author or the background of the work, then it adds a little something extra. The example Marian gives is
... in China Mieville’s The Scar, where the flagship of the New Crobuzonian fleet is named Morning Walker. That’s a reference to C. S. Lewis’s Dawn Treader, but it’s subtle. If a reader catches the parallel, it provides a little more enjoyment; if not, the name of the flagship still sounds exotic and interesting.This got me to thinking of all the little Easter eggs I've hidden in manuscripts:
- I had a main character in an early work named Mina, because I couldn't think of a name for her. Since she was the main character, I switched around the letters of main to get Mina.
- Mr. Nate Mallory of one work was named after Nathan Fillion, who played Captain Mal Reynolds in the Firefly series.
- Belle Ravenna is named for the Greek mythological hero Bellerophon.
- In my last WIP, I put the names of my first critique group partners as children in a classroom as a subtle way to thank them for their help.
- The artists in my current WIP is named Harley. I originally needed a minor character who was a painter. One of my students, named Charly, had recently drawn me a picture of a gold fish. So, I named my character Harley and had him painting a koi in the scene.
- In my current WIP, a science fiction, the name of the ship is Antimachus. They are travelling towards a planet in the Centauri star system, so I named the ship after an infamous centaur.
Most of my Easter eggs have to do with names. What about you? Do you slip in any Easter eggs into your works?
I love your easter eggs! I couldn't think of any in my WIP. Sigh...no inside jokes here.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I wonder how many Easter Eggs [that no one knows about] are in well-known stories.
ReplyDeletePS... I love the new template.
Yes Beth, you're blog is more beautiful than ever! I do have a lot of Easter Eggs in my novel. I have a line dediated to Tolstoy, one for Hemingway, and one for the animation director Miyazaki. Those are probably the most obvious ones, but there are perhaps half a dozen other ones that I only remember whenever I read through the whole draft. :)
ReplyDeleteA crit partner of mine has a book about a super famous rockstar... so when my character cranked up the tunes... she TOTALLY cranked up HIS song! :)
ReplyDeletehehe I of course asked her first, but she LOVED it!
I do that too. I love your new background! So pretty!
ReplyDeleteEverywhere! I think this is one of the best ways authors can give a little bit more to make their book special.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is when my eighth grade BFF read The Emerald Tablet and sent me a Facebook message to ask if I'd intentionally named the bad guy after our high school Geometry teacher :)
I do have Easter eggs in my novels, all over the place. Whether or not anybody finds them is another matter!
ReplyDeleteI was just telling my hubby about doing this.. I do this all the time with every book I've written. It's one of my fave things about writing. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL--I love hearing about y'alls Easter eggs!
ReplyDeleteEaster eggs are so fun! Mine usually have to do with names, but sometimes I'll slip references in like that. Unfortunately I have been denied access to the memory bank that stores this information, so I can't give you specifics. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy MC's homeroom teacher is named Mr. Wilson in memory of my high school band teacher. I didn't have any planned for my WIP. I just might have to think of a few. Fun idea!
ReplyDelete