Fun with Easter Eggs

“Me and the Lord, we got an understanding.” Those words, bordering on blasphemy, were uttered by Jake Blues in the Blues Brothers.

They came to mind as I faced a struggle recently and worked my mind around it. I don’t write about faith here typically–not the venue. But here, it’s appropriate. As I believe, God wants me to do my best and He can handle everything above that.

See, myeand the Lord, we got an understanding.

I love to quote movies, song lyrics, almost anything and stick them in my work. They’re called Easter Eggs. They’re homage, self-amusement, or even an attempt to build an inside relationship with your readers who notice them. They seem like good, harmless fun, if you don’t let them get in the way of the story, and you don’t completely rip someone off.

For instance, unless you’re shooting for parody, it’s probably not the best idea to close a climactic kiss off scene between your protagonist and his high-maintenance girlfriend by having him say “Frankly, dear, I don’t give a damn.” That would be a little obvious, and readers would perceive it as a big rip off.

Also, if you’re writing a fantasy story in a pretechnology period of knights and sorcerers, a reference to Jedi mind tricks isn’t likely to work.

So what are the characteristics of a good Easter egg?

1. It should be subtle and only register with a portion of your readers. If it’s too obvious, it’s not really an Easter egg. For instance, “the first rule of fight club” isn’t really an Easter egg because most people understand the reference. “Me and the Lord, we got an understanding,” would be an Easter egg because only a subset of people, usually around my age or older with excellent cinematic taste would recognize the reference.
2. It should fit the character you’re using it with. For instance, an atheist, a seven-year-old, or a devout priest wouldn’t be likely to use that kind of line. It should fit so well and be so subtle that if you don’t recognize it, you don’t realize it’s there.
3. It should be fleetingly brief. Anything long would cause issues with the flow of your story and turn from an Easter egg into plagiarism. It would also violate fair use rules.
4. It should fit your audience. If you’re writing cozies about crime-fighting house pets owned by a retired librarian, even if you could find a way to include the Blues Brothers reference without disrupting things, no one would get it.

Do you add Easter eggs? Would you? Are they a fun sideline, cheap ploy, sign of immaturity (like that’s a bad thing), unprofessional?

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