Pop Culture in Writing: Easter Egg or “You Are Here”?
Things were getting heated in the chamber.
At one end of the room, one member was asking for more. Just a little bit more, and then it would be all right. At the other end, another was demanding it stay as it was. Too much had been given away already, frankly.
Then, finally, Matt Goetz voted “present” and Kevin McCarthy was, at long last, Speaker of the House.
Ha. No. I’m not talking about that chamber here.
It was the Writing Studio where my writers group meets every month. The topic was a certain paragraph in my last round of pages. In it, my protagonist — in the grip of a marital crisis — is frantically trying to suppress a memory she isn’t ready to analyze:
Every nerve in my body screamed CHANGE THE SUBJECT!, but I wasn’t wholly sure why. It was just around the corner. But, like Danny Torrance on his Big Wheel inside the Overlook, I wasn’t ready to pedal down that particular hotel corridor. The one with the yellow floral wallpaper.
It’s an Easter egg, of course. Anyone who’s seen The Shining will remember the scenes with five-year-old Danny on his Big Wheel, causing viewers like me to watch through their fingers as he turned each corner. At some point, we knew he’d run into something he — and we — didn’t want to see. And anyone who’s seen The Shining more than once knows that those creepy little girls finally do show up when he’s in the hallway with that equally menacing yellow floral wallpaper.
I mean, seriously. No secluded mountain hotel can get that Laura Ashley on us without having bad intentions. Not even in the 1970s. But I digress.
At issue during our writers group session was my use of this Easter egg without referencing the movie by name. One writer, not recognizing the scene, felt that she was taken out of the story. All she needed, she argued reasonably, was the addition of the two little words The Shining.
Another writer was equally emphatic that I keep it as is. He caught on to what I was doing right away, and enjoyed the feeling of being part of a subset of readers who “got it.”
And that’s the crux of it, isn’t it? Exclusivity versus inclusivity. The I-see-what-you-did-there versus the hang-on-I-gotta-Google-this.
Mulling over the feedback from my group, I was still torn. So I did what any normal person would do. I turned to social media for validation. Here’s what they told me:
Team Easter Egg
I LOVE Easter eggs. My books are rife with hidden jokes of all kinds, most are literary homages that have absolutely no right being in a contemporary humor novel. Let your readers feel smart when they figure it out themselves.
I really think you don’t need to mention The Shining. I think some cultural references are practically universal and need no explanation. If a reader has never heard of The Overlook, I think it’s likely they’ve never heard of The Shining either, and then where does your explanation end?
Do not make the direct reference. The point of this in writing is to tickle the fans, not lead them by the nose.
Easter Egg!!!!!!! Love that. I love it when authors do this, and I get it. It’s further proof that I’ll like other stuff by this author. It’s like we’re part of the same nerd culture.
Team You Are Here
I had to Google it. I’d say most people know what The Shining is and would understand a general reference to it but if, like myself, they haven’t watched the movie, any specific references would be lost. But if it’s quick, then someone who doesn’t get it might brush it off no problem. I guess you have to decide just how important the wording is to you and if you would rather get your point across to more people or have a little secret wink with a smaller number of your readers.
If you include the title, then everyone will get it, familiar or not.
Do you think the reader will stop and say who is Danny Torrance? What is The Overlook? If so and your reference is important, then explain. I’m the type of reader, if I’m clueless about something and I really want to know, I stop and Google.
I’ve learned (the hard way!) that being clear is more important than being clever.
In the enthusiasm category, Team Easter Egg wins, though Team You Are Here’s logical approach to bringing more readers along also scored points with me.
I haven’t quite made up my mind yet, so if you have an opinion, I’d love to hear it. Just don’t try to transmit it via CB radio…mine doesn’t seem to be working so well.
Kerry Crisley is the author of the women’s fiction novel, Summer of Georgie. Visit her website at kerrycrisley.com.
