Ireth
Mythic Scribe
It's 300. You know... "This! Is! SPARTA!"
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Easter Eggs in your writing
- Thread starter WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade
- Start date
It's 300. You know... "This! Is! SPARTA!"
Mindfire
Istari
Nope. Still no clue.
Mindfire
Istari
Okay now I get it. But tbh the two words sound nothing alike.
Ireth
Mythic Scribe
That probably depends on one's accent/pronunciation. *shrug*
Tom
Istari
I don't think I have any easter eggs in my stuff. Gonna have to work on that...
Reilith
Mystagogue
I actually have a lot of them. Some are nudges to particular friends of mine, some are general references to irl people (one of the MC's name is Madden and his nickname is Mads - guess who I took it from?), some are homages to my favourite works of fantasy and one was an easter egg even for me(I made a place called Harkenstone ruins, knowing I've heard it somewhere before, until a friend reminded me where my brain got it from - can't get away from the father of fantasy). I am going to weave some more pop cultural references, I wanna include Doctor Who, Poe's poetry etc.
Ireth
Mythic Scribe
I tried to have the main villain of Winter's Queen make a Poe reference, since his name is Irish for "raven". Unfortunately it didn't work out. So I named a minor antagonist Lenore instead. XD Also had her mention Poe by name. That same story also has two characters named after a friend of mine, a pair of twin brothers -- I used my friend's first name for one and his middle name for the other. XD
Tom
Istari
Hey, I just remembered one. When trying to trick my MC into giving up his humanity and entering the Otherworld, the Faeries basically paraphrase some verses from W.B. Yeats' poem "The Stolen Child". That four-line refrain at the end of each stanza is so haunting.
I referenced Poe in a short story about ravens. I didn't know his name meant raven though. Here's the line: I crept through the forest, my eyes on the floor, searching for the trail I lost. If I’d been a better tracker, I could have kept my mind focused on the task at hand, rather than drifting into a not so distant past, the day I’d encountered my first harbinger of doom.
His name was Po and not because of any damned poet from the western shore. I named him that because when I met him, he was sitting on a road marker, one sign pointing north to the village of Glasburg, the other pointing east to Po. The bird was perched on Po and he didn’t look inclined to move.
His name was Po and not because of any damned poet from the western shore. I named him that because when I met him, he was sitting on a road marker, one sign pointing north to the village of Glasburg, the other pointing east to Po. The bird was perched on Po and he didn’t look inclined to move.
Ireth
Mythic Scribe
I frickin' looove that poem!
Have you heard Loreena McKennitt's arrangement? Beautiful.
Tom
Istari
I don't think I have, but I'll definitely check it out! Yeats is one of my favorite poets--he's the one who taught me to appreciate and embrace my Irish heritage.
Ireth
Mythic Scribe
Also worth listening to is basically anything by Heather Dale. She does a ton of mythology/folklore related stuff -- Arthurian legends, Fae, even Inuit myth. Frickin' awesome.
Ireth
Mythic Scribe
I meant that my villain's name means "raven", not Poe's. Sorry if I worded that confusingly before.
Lunaairis
Mystagogue
In a recent work I've been making it a point to name any of my "bat-people" after classical vampires. At least their first names anyway. To top it off I named their race the Ahool which any Google search will give you an answer to what that is.
Then there is my ant-people i called the Hotogami. Its unlikely that anyone will guess where I got that name from. They are based on the Hopi indians' drawings.
I haven't made many references for anything in my story yet, but I should get on that.
Then there is my ant-people i called the Hotogami. Its unlikely that anyone will guess where I got that name from. They are based on the Hopi indians' drawings.
I haven't made many references for anything in my story yet, but I should get on that.
Trick
Dark Lord
I've definitely laid a few Easter Eggs in my work (desperately erasing mental image) but I tend to hide them with anagrams. Alektin Sola is a character in my book responsible for great inventions and innovations. His scheming partner's name is Haimes Dotson. Another off screen inventor's name is Heriker Nhitz. They're all pretty obvious but none are main or even secondary characters so I don't mind if they're spotted.
I sometimes find them when I didn't intend to. I have a thief character who has a small stature and I imagine having a Cockney accent and there is a famous, small English thief of the same name who is similar in other ways. I, of course, bought an old movie and book about him off Amazon right away.
I know I have others but I can't think of them at the moment.
I sometimes find them when I didn't intend to. I have a thief character who has a small stature and I imagine having a Cockney accent and there is a famous, small English thief of the same name who is similar in other ways. I, of course, bought an old movie and book about him off Amazon right away.
I know I have others but I can't think of them at the moment.
Fyle
Grandmaster
I have a town that a character passes by with homes build into hills. Similar to Hobbit holes, but that's the only similarity. There are no hobbits of course. Humans live in them and they are regular size...
It's unimportant and the charcter takes notice and just keeps traveling.
It's unimportant and the charcter takes notice and just keeps traveling.
To the best of my recollection, I've only ever planted one Easter egg. And even then, I wouldn't really call it an Easter egg. One of my characters has the initials R.C. and everyone calls her by those initials instead of her given name. It's a reference to an '80s cartoon, and for the most part I just liked the name, and like I said not really an Easter egg. More of a subtle bit of theft. Be some what surprised if someone gets it.
skrite
Journeyman
that's awesome. i get that one.
Reilith
Mystagogue
skrite
Journeyman
I have named three characters in one book after songs by the pixies.