Referencing other people's work in my own story

[MumboJumbo]

Hey all, i was thinking of some ideas of what to include in a short story i am writing that primarily gives some background into the lore of the fantasy world ive created. As an avid gamer I've played many games that subtly reference other works, and in moderation I think it adds character and betters the story/gameplay. So I was wondering what people think about referencing other work in your own stories. Do any of you do it often?

My idea was to include an antagonist who peppers his dialogue with poetry, the idea being to give him a bit more mystery and unique character (the idea for this was sparked from playing the game Age of Mythology - the antagonist is a cyclops named Gargarensis who, in numerous cutscenes, reels off lines from the poem Lepanto by Gilbert Keith Chesterton). I was thinking to use a few lines from JRR Tolkien's poem about Durin awaking, since it touches on a central theme in my created world/story.

-IF- i ever got to publishing work, would copyright issues come into play? Does one have to get permission for things like this?

cheers, MJ

 

[The Dark One]

It's called intertextuality and happens all the time. If you keep your references short they will probably be safely within the fair dealing rules of the copyright laws in most countries.

My book THEM was, among other things, a parody of 'the sacred quest'. It therefore frequently referenced LOTR - even had the characters arguing about the book, in (I think) an amusing fashion.

 

[CupofJoe]

Personally I wouldn't.
The problem with in-jokes/references is that it might alienate those that don't get them.
if they are too obvious then they can look clumsy - too subtle and no one but you will get them...
GK Chesterton [1874 - 1936] is just about far enough ago that the poem might be out of rights. I would guess that the current rights holders of JRRT would be pro-active [ahem!] in asserting their rights... a couple of years ago they did try to close down a pub called The Hobbit that had been trading happily since the early 1970s with JRRT's knowledge.
I like the idea of a poetry quoting character. I've tried that myself. The hard bit was trying to invent some suitable poetry because I didn't want to use "real world" poetry...
I take it your story is "real word"? So the character know that its Tolkien s/he's quoting?

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Sherilynn Kenyon, who writes roughly in my genre urban fantasy (she writes paranormal romance) uses them ALL the time, and I plan to as all. Caveat - she writes under a major publisher who I'm sure plays a lot of CYA with her (Cover You Ass), so do so at your own peril.

 

[MumboJumbo]

thanks for the input!
@ cupofjoe - in this case i wouldnt be too worried about people "getting it", especially since its not used for comedy: its kind of a subtle personal tribute to Tolkien, and those who didn't get the reference might still appreciate the quirkiness of the evil poet. But i understand your point.
@ cupofjoe - No its a wholly fantasy setting. I haven't written the encounter yet so hopefully the reference wouldnt be too out of place.
@thedarkone - sounds good! Using intertextuality for comic effect is something I'd like to explore in at least one piece of work.

 

[ThinkerX]

I recently read a book that did this. At one point the MC was in an office dominated by a picture of Machen's 'Three Imposters' (Machen being an inspiration to Lovecraft), and at another point he stumbles across a pile of books used by the bad guys, which includes the 'Necromincom' (Lovecrafts infamous fictional tome). It worked because these were all passing references that added to the depth of the scene without distracting from it.