Sneaking in References

Has anyone else snuck in a paraphrased quote, song title, or other reference, subtle or not-so-subtle that they didn't originally plan on using?

(To be clear, I'm not referring to the word count trick of putting in song lyrics or Shakespeare quotes to make word count goals. I'm referring to references only.)

Yup yup yup. I'll write something, and that will remind me of something totally irrelevent to the story, so I start adding on to it.

I was able to sneak in a paraphrased Admiral Nelson quote, among other things.

I did that in the freaking second paragraph, paused, questioned the wisdom of going through with this whole thing, then shrugged and kept on writing.

("...wanted more than this provincial life" from Beauty and the Beast >.>)

I have a reference to The Importance of Being Earnest. It probably shouldn't stay because I'm writing in a world that never had Oscar Wilde.

(I know, it's sad to think about, isn't it?)

I have two characters whose surnames are Holmes and Bailey, and yes, they got saddled with the nicknames "Sherlock" and "Beetle" respectively.

Sherlock Holmes' first name is actually Sherilyn, but since she's military, all her stuff is labeled "Holmes, S." and it kind of annoys her that she's been nicknamed Sherlock because his actual first name is William, which she pointed out to my FMC.

I'm not sure how Bailey came to be known as Beetle, and neither is my MMC, as he's noticed the guy doesn't seem to be interested in either insects or mid-twentieth century music.

I wouldn't be surprised if half of everything I wrote or thought wasn't a reference to pop culture.

I spent nearly a page's worth of words on a back-and-forth of movie titles...and then it got weird.

I probably have a lot of Harry Potter references in mind, as well to a number of manga/anime.

I also added a Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference in there, and it's a sneaky little reference. You have to have loved the movie to get it (although it's a famous quote).

I just got in my first deliberate reference at 43,450 words. "My plan is to think of something brilliant."

Cookies if you know what it's a reference to. Double cookies if you know and you're not Canadian (which I'm not).

LOL, too commonplace to really be a quote, but I just typed a character yelling "It's a trap!" and suddenly could only hear Admiral Ackbar saying it. I laughed so hard. =)=)

Hahaha, I reference Hilari Bell's Forging the Sword about 2/3 of the way through. Just 'cuz it's an awesome book.

I quoted Edgar Allan Poe there, snuck in one of my favourite sentences from his stories: "... and I fell violently on my face." I just had to change the pronoun to 'she'.

Anyone here heard of Starkid Potter?
Anyway, I referenced their play, A Very Potter Sequel. My MC saw a lovely center piece and immediately exclaimed, "What a marvelous display; I'm very impressed!"

I find myself continually sneaking in vague references to various shows/books I like. But only at truly appropriate moments. For example, I referenced Red vs. Blue a couple of times, and Mass Effect more than once (although I worked quite hard to get in one particular ME reference--the "ah yes, Reapers, we have dismissed that claim" quote!).

I have a few sneaky references in there. My favorite though is a sneaky reference to the Vampire Diaries in chapter seven (I think that's the chapter). I also have a very sneaky reference to Sailor Moon that pretty much no one will get given the fact that its just mentioning the time it came on for a character's childhood.

“I second that, lets keep going. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover if we want to be back by nightfall.”
“Right you are Ken,” she said.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Just some TV show.


My reference to MXC. Shoutout from another planet!

I have a character who makes a lot of random references; I haven't managed to get him to make a lot in my story yet, but he does make them. There's been one Star Wars reference that I can remember off the top of my head that he made. I haven't written the part yet, but he's also going to reference Pearl Harbor (bonus points because I envision him as Ben Affleck).

And then another character randomly asks "Where'd you get the coconuts?" and proceeds to start going through that skit from Holy Grail, completely out of context of everything, regardless of the person he's talking to not responding in kind.

A scene where a guy, a doctor, says, "I'm the doctor," and Aubrey shrieks at him, "NO YOU'RE NOT!" I think he even mentions the TARDIS.

I haven't written it yet, but there's going to be a scene where Aubrey's being tortured after trying to escape, and in an attempt to be his snarky, normal self, he's going to be like,
"Well, you found me. Congratulations. Was it worth it? Because despite your violent behavior, the only thing you managed to break so far...is my heart."
GLaDOS. <3

My MC discussed The Tale of the Three Brothers with a kid she was babysitting.

Annnd there's a Mean Girls reference in there too. "I have feelings! I just tend to eat them."

I accidentally made a reference to The Lady of Shallott. I wrote the line and was like "Why does that feel familiar...?"