Author Confessions: Easter Eggs

Why, in fall, would I be talking about Easter eggs? I don’t know, maybe because it’s not about Resurrection Day or cute little bunnies or hunting for eggs around the yard or house. What I am talking about are the hidden things author put in their books just for fun, and hopefully for the fun of the reader.

This was done spectacularly in the television show, Psych. I was introduced to that show and fell in love with the over-the-top characters and their outrageous shenanigans. Funny, because that could at times describe my husband but that show is just too silly for him. Maybe it was a season in my life but it was a great escape. There is an example of the Easter egg phenomenon though that any Psych fan would know about. What is it? Pinapple.

In the first episode, Shawn Spencer (brilliantly played by James Roday) grabs a pinapple and asks about taking it along. For all I know it could have been improv for the scene as there was a lot of improvisation that took place in that show. After that they made sure to include a pineapple all 120 episodes either visually or in the dialogue. It might be obvious, or it might not. The fun for the fan was to find the pineapple. Fun tidbit, the TV show Chuck, used the word pinapple when there was an emergency. A nod to Psych? Possibly.

So how does that relate to an author? Sometimes author put Easter eggs in their stories. For instance, every one of my six stories in the Black Diamond Gothic Regency series has an animal that assists the main character. In The Baron’s Blunder, it was a parrot. In The Virtuous Viscount it was a dog. Lord Phillip’s Folly had a talking crow while Sir Michael’s Mayhem had a sneaky ferret. A kitten was helpful in Lord Harrow’s Heart and a lamb was vital to The Captain’s Conquest. It didn’t start out that way, as the pinapple thing didn’t for Psych, but it was fun as an author to include an animal that wasn’t just in the background but actually played role, some more major than others, in helping out the characters.

The requirement for this would be that you are writing a series. And it might not start out as an Easter egg, but you’d have to know this by book two. For instance putting in an animal made me have to think carefully about just what kind of animal and what role would it play to further the story along. Easter eggs can’t be a distraction, and they don’t need to take center stage either. Having an animal in a story is fine, but having it actually be a part of the plot is something else entirely, but if you’re up for it, it can be a sweet challenge.

An Easter egg can also be a character, place, object (like the pinapple or a pet). This can also be referred to as an allusion because the reader (or viewer) will understand what the author is referring to. Does the reader need to know there is an Easter egg to enjoy the story? No. And authors don’t tell their readers in advance that there are Easter eggs either.

This can happen within one story as well. In Sir Michael’s Mayhem there is a tree that they keep coming back to and in the end Michael sees a new tree and ties it all in with every other instance with the other tree. Easter egg. Intentional? Not necessarily, but it was fun when I realized it was there. Hopefully the reader did as well.

Marvel movies are another version of the Easter Egg phenomenon as  the creator of the series, Stan Lee would appear in some way shape or form in every episode before he passed away. Another one is that at the end of each movie, after the credits, is a fun scene of some sort, so don’t stop when the credits roll on any movie, because some have fun surprises for you, whether it is outtakes or something else. I believe there are other Easter eggs in there as well but these are the more obvious ones.

A series might refer to something from a previous book as well. That happens quite often but only those who have read the series in order will catch it.

Intentionally or not, Easter eggs are a literary feature that can be fun for the author to employ. Do you have any favorite Easter eggs in fiction (written or on the screen?)

For fun, can you find all the pineapples in these few scenes? I know I missed some!