I Love Authors Who Reference Their Other Work in Their Other Books

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So, I'm reading the Dark Tower saga (And I'm on the penultimate book, Song Of Susannah, in case you were wondering), and man, Stephen King just references the HELL out of his other books in this series. From The Stand to Salem's Lot to even referencing HIMSELF in these books, if you're a fan of his work, then it's an absolute pleasure to see some of his other characters make a appearance in this series. It's almost like a reward for reading his other titles, and I love that about the man. I love getting that reward. It makes it all the more awesome to read his work, and also, that much more unexpected. I keep wondering if Pennywise from It will make an appearance here. I mean, the turtle already has, so really, anything can happen with the Dark Tower. Anything.

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As a reader, and, as a writer, I dig that. It's showcasing that for an author, the books aren't just separate galaxies, but rather, one enormous universe where all of their ideas circulate into one. It's a bold approach to crafting novels, and I adore it. Hopefully, after my first book gets published (And it will get published...it will), I'll do a similar thing. I just hope that it will all make sense.

In the end though, it's a great way to build a fan base from being just plain dedicated, to being utterly obsessed to read everything that that author has written. And I can tell you one thing, if Chuck Palahniuk had done it, I'd probably still be reading his books.

Then again though, not many authors do do it, and the only other two who I can actually think of off hand are Kurt Vonnegut, mainly with Kilgore Trout, and Sinclair Lewis, who delightfully placed Babbitt in his novel Elmer Gantry for a brief, cameo appearance. Can you think of any others? If you can, please put them in the comments box below. I'd love to hear a few.

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