Last week I read the first chapter of Let No Man Put Asunder to the in-person live action group. They repeated a criticism I’ve heard before (including the Zoom group on the same chapter), that I don’t give readers time to catch their breath. And like the Zoom group, they had some criticisms of my use of pop-culture references. Mandy’s a movie buff, Paul’s a mystery story fan and there are multiple references to both in the book.
The Zoom group’s criticism is that I’m overusing the references: like Ready Player One I’m at risk of just endless name-dropping without context. This is true: I love making little pop culture references and I’ve already begun trimming back in spots. I’m doing the same in Impossible Takes a Little Longer, avoiding too many comics references.
A second criticism, echoed by someone in the live-action group, is that (for example) when Paul refers to his TBR mystery shelf including The Mysterious Mr. Quinn, Shell Scott and John Dickson Carr there’s no context for them. They have no meaning.
This surprised me a little; I’d have assumed nobody needs a context in that example beyond “mystery novel someone’s reading.” I assume it the same way I’d assume that if someone’s watching Zane Grey Theater or General Hospital on TV — I’ve used them both in the background of different stories — nobody’s going to care if they don’t know the show (I don’t think Zane Grey is the brand-name he used to be). Should I rethink that assumption? Or is it that the mystery references are important to Paul and not just background stuff?
The counter-argument is that if someone doesn’t get a reference, they’ll just Google it. I’ve never been thrilled with this perspective; the last thing I want is for someone to stop reading and go online because I’ve confused them. However books such as Alex Segura’s Secret Identity employ references way more obscure than I do, which has made me wonder if I worry about it too much. Though according to some of the critiques, maybe I should worry about it more?
Yep, this is another No Conclusions post but I will keep the unanswered questions in mind.
#SFWApro. Mystery covers by Gerald Gregg, all rights remain with current holders.
I wonder if this is one of those cases where the critiques are correct to say that your use of pop-culture references is bothering them, but their diagnosis (too many) may not be accurate. It may be something about how, when, or where you use them, and not the number of them you use. I find that critiquers are much better at knowing that something bothers them than they are at telling you how to fix it.
That’s very true, including my own feedback to others. But it should be simple enough to fix when I get to the rewriting phase.
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