It’s all Greek to me!

I have a habit of doing referencing in my books, by which I mean mentioning, either obliquely or obviously, other works of literature, cinema, art, and culture. In The Sorrow Song Trilogy, the most obvious reference is to the ancient poem Beowulf, each of the three titles of the books are direct quotes from it. One of my favourite references occurs in Eugenica when a character expresses the opinion that the actress Fay Wray is ‘going to make a monster of a movie’, which of course she did, it was called King Kong! Even my epic fantasy ‘The Queen of the Mountain Kingdom’ indulges in referencing, only each time it is to a history and culture that I created, which is probably not popularly known to others yet.

Pomerania continues this proud tradition, only I have noticed that there appears to be a slight bias developing; most of my references have been Greek in origin! It is not surprising really as I did study Classics, Greece and Rome, and I have always found Classical Greece to be fascinating, but I did wonder as I passed the 14,000-word point if perhaps I should make a conscious effort to include other cultures and histories as well. I think that the answer is yes. Classical Greece is neither the starting point nor the destination of this novel. Yes, I should use it as a source of inspiration, but no, it should not dominate the character of the book. With a little effort I know that I can find alternative references and that this will be more in keeping with what I am trying to achieve.

The protagonist, who is called Charlie, meets a widely disparate population of characters in the strange place that he finds himself inhabiting. Each is representative of a theme that I want to explore, not all of them can be Greek. I want the diversity of humanity on display. As I enjoy doing the research, I do not think that it will be too difficult for me to even the balance of cultural references out. Where a reference to Classical Greece simply works best then I will use it, but if I can find an at least equally good link to another culture then I will work that one into the text instead.

I am not sure if other authors use conscious referencing to illustrate a point. I have read some that to me seem rather cumbersome, used to try and suggest something different about a character but failing to add anything to the story. Perhaps that is why some writers do not appear to employ it as a tool. More than likely they just do not get as much enjoyment out of it as I do. It is no great issue really. I like embedding nuggets of knowledge into the body of my text for my own satisfaction, it the majority of readers do not pick up on them, or simply do not think that they are worth mentioning, then that is fine, as long as they do not spoil the enjoyment of the book.