Teso Rambles: The Future's Gonna Do What It Wants To (aka. Referencing Other In Universe Novels)

If I had a quarter for every time listening to a song on repeat made me think about a blog post idea, I'd have two quarters, which isn't a lot but it's kinda weird that it happened twice.

Ok, memes aside, I did, in fact, get the idea of this post from a song I was listening to today, so bear with me if it's not very sensical. Then again, none of my rambles are, so I'm not mad. I was watching the music video Maybe This Time from High School Musical The Musical the Series (since I cried through it the first time) when I saw the flashback scenes, which reminded me of when authors reference a past in universe novel. I decided that it would be a wonderful ramble topic, and here we are.

One of my favorite things that an author can do is bring a reference to a previous novel or character into a new work, because it calls the reader to remember a previous incident, usually one they had to read to get to where they are, or one they'll read later on and find funny. Now, I, personally am a fan of large sagas. Like, twenty books all set in the same universe in the same timeline kind of series. I love reading a little reference so in larger sagas, it's easier for an author to do that, since more times passes and more characters are shown.

I don't care much about how it's done, or when, but my personal favorite is a small detail that means nothing to the main character, but everything to the reader. I love it especially when it's a reference made to a prequel by or in the direction of a character who has no idea what the reference means (see Magnus Bane interacting with anyone ever). This can be a name drop, or a comparison to a previous situation, basically any little details. It's like a little scavenger hunt, looking for a reference to a character or situation that I loved. I love to do this in rereads (if you only read a book one time you don't experience it fully, in my opinion. This allows me to find the joke and remember the reference, since on first reads, I'm usually too focused on plot than smaller details or jokes, so it would have to be painfully obvious that the author intended it to be there. I have a process for this for a reason (rereading). It's imperative to me.

Anyways, those are my opinions, in one of the weirdest rambles I've ever written.

Happy reading!

Teso