Shout-Outs!

[Mad Swede]

So then, how many of us include shout-outs when we write? If you use them, is there anything in particular you refer to?

The reason for the question is a long running game I have with my editor. I included a shout-out quite unintentionally in the first book I had published (it came about as a result of something I was listening to as I wrote a chapter) and my editor only picked up on it after I'd pointed it out to her. Since then its become something of a challenge between the two of us. I include shout-outs and she has to try to spot them. My shout-outs vary, refering to everything from classic greek and latin literature through to modern popular music.

 

[The Dark One]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by shout outs, but if you mean referencing something in real life or quoting something from popular culture, I do it all the time.

Most of my books are crime (with a bit of historical fiction and my first sci-fi novel coming out later this year - sequel next year) but you won't find any of my books without a direct quote from The Lord of the Rings. Usually several. I sneak them in all the time.

 

[Mad Swede]

Well, I've always understood a shout-out to be the term given to an intentional (or what can reasonably be construed to be an intentional) reference to something or someone outside the work. Which is in more formal literary terms what is meant by allusion.

A reader pointed out the shout-out in the first book I wrote, and whilst I hadn't intended it to be deliberate I could see afterwards how he'd construed it to be deliberate on my part. Since then I've tried to include shout-outs in all my book and short stories, partly because I enjoy the challenge of finding some suitable reference which - in terms of its original wording and meaning - fits in the context of what I've written. I think that the bit about meaning is important simply beacause the way we use language changes with time. So if I include a shout-out to, say, August Strindberg, then I need to make sure that the meaning of his words fits in the context of what I'm writing. Otherwise all I'd be doing would be quoting him, and that probably wouldn't be appropriate in terms of my story.

 

[Chasejxyz]

The sentence "Her?" is pretty innocuous but I have Arrested Development brain rot so I think it's Very Funny to have it in there.

Also check out this one conversation I wrote:

“Aren’t you worried that they’ll shoot you?”
The dragon snorted. “Look at me, I’ll be fine. I come with my own armor.”
“But don’t you have a weak spot they could hit?”
“They’re arrows, how are they going to hit a moving target? Never mind one of the few spots it could actually hurt me.”
“Stop antagonizing Kazskaya.” Yuzula landed between them. “We’ve already thought of everything, we wouldn’t just forget that they have ranged weapons.”

Can YOU guess what thing I am Very Mad About still even years later?

 

[WooHooMan]

I got a lot of music references. There was a scene were a character spoke entirely in Electric Light Orchestra lyrics. And I got a group of guys with names based on reggae songs and artists.
Plus, my main villain is basically a physical embodiment of a Fleetwood Mac album.

 

[The Dark One]

A Fleetwood Mac album?

He sounds like pure evil!!!