Honoring the past

Birol · Sep 5, 2007

How many of you honor or are inspired by the literary past? Do you, for example, find yourself giving little nods to the authors who inspired you in your dialogue or in situations your characters find themselves in? Do you ever do anything to pay homage to those writers whose work have stood the test of time, whether that time be decades or centuries?

{This question brought to you by the presentation Lori is doing this evening in which she compares and contrasts certain scenes in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.}

Stew21 · Sep 5, 2007

absolutely.
One prominent player in our literary past is a present day ghost in my current MS.

Calla Lily · Sep 5, 2007

My entire writing life has been inspired by Lovecraft and Dickens. Dickens gets a nod in my first book. Lovecraft (or a denizen of his pantheon) hasn't appeared in any book...yet.

Birol · Sep 5, 2007

What form does the nod take?

Azraelsbane · Sep 5, 2007

One of my MCs, while looking for something to help him break a window, passes by a copy of LotR in his underwear drawer. Does that count? Much later, when the guy creates his own world, the military capital is Gwahir.

And I have an allusion or two to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in a few places throughout my fantasy series, but I try not to make it where it...I dunno, in the words of Peter Griffin "Insists upon itself."

Calla Lily · Sep 5, 2007

What form does the nod take?

To set the scene: 200 years post-nuke, rebuilt Topeka, KS. MC found hidden ancient book page in late husband's stuff, psychos snatch her and recite very bizarre stuff as they try to kill her. She escapes, connects the recitations to husband's paper, and looks for similar old stuff in her hunt to identify psychos.

*whew*

She goes to a museum exhibit that's (without saying so) is an archaeological excavation of a Target store. Part of the exhibit is books in various states of preservation. She finds a copy of A Tale of Two Cities, reads a certain section toward the end when Sydney Carton is wandering the streets before switching places with Darnay, and makes a connection based on archaic style of speech in a quoted passage.

Sorry this isn't simple! It's a plot-driven thriller.

MidnightMuse · Sep 5, 2007

I haven't, yet. But I do reference physicists. In my far-future SF they're considered philosphers.

Shane Fitzsimmons · Sep 5, 2007

I haven't yet, but I'm considering doing so in my current WIP.

My favorite author had some small mention of a book written by so and so in his novel. My favorite author corresponded with another guy who wound up getting his book published (and is selling quite well) and as a sort of nod to his semi-mentor, he mentions the book mentioned in my favorite author's novel. This book, by the way, is completely made up. It's not a real book, it's just something in the story.

I'm considering continuing the trend and giving a semi-nod to both of them by adding it to my story. My only hesitation is that both of their novels are fantasy books that take place on another world, while mine is a science fiction book that takes place entirely on Earth. It wouldn't be consistent.

That said, I still want to give a little nod to my favorite author, so I'm thinking about doing so in some other ways. Not really sure how though, yet.

Kate Thornton · Sep 5, 2007

I am always aware of the writers I have admired while I am writing - I know I don't write anything at all like most of them, but I do want to tell a story with that same sense of excitement and articulation that I found so compelling in their works.

Heinlein, Bester, Hiaasen, Nesbit, James (Henry & P.D.) - there's a long list, and it keeps on growing.

Sunnyside · Sep 5, 2007

Oh wow, I'd LOVE to read a Dickensian Lovecraftian nod!

I'm a non-fiction writer, so the best I can do is play around with those folks I admire when they happen to walk into the world I'm writing about. I had a GREAT time writing Dickens, in fact. Whatta guy.

Namatu · Sep 5, 2007

Hm. No. I feel left out.

davids · Sep 5, 2007

Great thread Birol-me? I cannot say that I have yet used anything at least consciously from my two favorites-Steinbeck and Vonnegut but the wip that I am working on-well one of them at least-has some strange Vonnegutian characters. Perhaps that is a subconscious indication of praise-dunno but those two got me going and keep me going. For whatever that is worth-Dave

maestrowork · Sep 5, 2007

In my published novel, I mentioned some of my favorite authors when I was younger, including a few Chinese writers. One of my characters was caught reading Toni Morrison's Paradise, for example.

In my current WIP, I haven't really paid homage to any authors or literary work. But I'm sure sooner or later they will make their appearances. But the story itself is somewhat inspired by Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago.

NiennaC · Sep 5, 2007

I sometimes do. The nod is usually a pop reference to the book or author.

RG570 · Sep 5, 2007

I've done this. Mostly they're obscure references to Michael Moorcock. I don't mention names and do it overtly, but a fan will recognize it and hopefully be like "yeah" when they see it.

I did an entire novel that was sort of an homage to Ayn Rand, but it was kind of a nasty parody. She's an influence in my writing, but only in that I find her completely insane, ridiculous, and fascinating at the same time.

PeeDee · Sep 5, 2007

They turn up in my stories, sometimes, when I can manage it. Occasionally, I name starships after them, if the story lets me. I just wrote a scene featuring the S.S. Zelazny, for example.

A lot of the time, I can't work the reference in. There's no spare characters or spare lines to give them.

Easier to do, though, is I *do* lift their characters and plop them into my stories. I usually change the names, but an astute reader would notice that my gas station clerk and Annie Wilkes have the same paragraphs of description and the same figures of speech. Things like that are fun.

KTC · Sep 5, 2007

I always drop references that true fans of the books I love would recognize...if anything I write ever gets published, that is!? I'm a major nodder.

PeeDee · Sep 5, 2007

In video games (and movies), they're called Easter Eggs. I love doing them. Little things that are meaningless unless you and I are reading the same books, or listening to the same music, or watching the same films, or have the same trivia. Some character at a party, who gets two lines, who is named Vincent Furnier? Did I really mean to name him after Alice Cooper's original name? Yes, of course.

It's fun. I don't know if anyone notices, but it's fun to do.

maestrowork · Sep 5, 2007

PeeDee said:
In video games (and movies), they're called Easter Eggs. I love doing them. Little things that are meaningless unless you and I are reading the same books...

And I always make a cameo appearance in my novels. Yeah, I'm narcissistic.

Manat · Sep 6, 2007

I give nods to John Dryden and Aphra Behn in my Restoration era historical,

Stew21 · Sep 6, 2007

I was thinking about this and realized I also give nods in poetry to people.
I've written poems inspired by writing of others: Your Ophelia (Shakespeare), Imperium (about Daisy Buchanan - Great Gatsby). for some of my favorite writers: a Farewell to Vonnegut (on his passing), La Femme La Vie La Joie - about Dorothy Parker.
and I've written poems about some of my favorite AW poets as well - Haskins, Truman Coyote, KTC, NeuroFizz, Poetinahat. I consider them my teachers - and even in work not associated with them. One in particular I reference a poem written by Zach (Truman). And another for aka Eraser - I called out Norman Maclean.
And for artists in general: a shout to Jackson Pollack in She Wolf.

I guess I do more of it than I realized.

Koobie · Sep 6, 2007

Birol said:
Do you ever do anything to pay homage to those writers whose work have stood the test of time, whether that time be decades or centuries?

To paraphrase Quentin Tarantino, "I don't do homages. I steal."

AceTachyon · Sep 6, 2007

In one of my stories, a woman hires the MC and her sidekick for a job. The woman notes that they may run into trouble.

The sidekick replies, "Trouble's our business."

The MC gives the sidekick a weird look. The sidekick shrugs and says, "Heard it somewhere."

Willowmound · Sep 8, 2007

PeeDee said:
It's fun. I don't know if anyone notices, but it's fun to do.

Easter eggs... Why have I never thought of that? Okay, I'll plant one. What fun!

L M Ashton · Sep 8, 2007

Absolutely. One story I'm working on, set in the far future, is very loosely based on a short story by Louis Padgett (a pen name for a married couple whose names escape me), and their story shows up, named (Mimsy were the Borogoves), as something sold on the black market. Of course, that also brings up Lewis Carroll...

I've also worked in interesting (to me) characters - that fit the story - from history or elsewhere when I get the chance.

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