Was wondering if any authors keep using the same idea in their stories that if you see it, know which author it is?
Thinking of Oyster50 and the MCs making gumbo.
Something simple that does not really change the story if something was changed, like gumbo in one story and the next has fried chicken, but the same simple thing shows up in most of the author's stories.
It is regional. People will generally write about foods that they grew up with and are very familiar with. You can sometimes tell where an author is from by the diet featured in their stories. Gumbo is an essential part of Gulf Coast cuisine, so when someone is writing about people from the Gulf Coast, they are very likely to have gumbo. Around the Southeast, you will generally run into a lot of fried chicken. In New England, you generally find a lot of meals with clams, lobsters, and other seafood. In the Mid-west and Rocky Mountain region, you will hear more about beef. The Pacific Northwest may feature salmon.
Was just using gumbo/food as an example. Was wondering if any other authors added the same simple thing into their stories, that if you read only the sentence/paragraph you would know/guess well which author wrote it.
Gumbo goes with Oyster50 stories, but is not important. His using engineers and planes are important to his stories.
Jay Cantrell's stories feature a lot of rich spoiled girls with athletic guys, and they eat a lot of fruit salad.
Stories set in Britain that do not feature a Full English (or Full Scottish), a Sunday Roast and gallons of tea are not really set in Britain.
And never underestimate the importance of chocolate digestives to British culture.
As they should be. ;)
As a survivor of England three of the four those are still large parts of my diet
There's Quasirandom. Though he's now got a few stories without one, if you see a character named Dana Partlow, that's one of his stories.
I've always thought a book without coffee stains has rarely been read. Coffee stains are signs a book has been well-loved, rather than well-preserved. That said, coffee has always been an American fascination, as many regions focus on teas (England, India, etc.), ranging from black, herbal and even medicinal.
WTSman names almost all of his male leads George. Not that uncommon, but if the male lead is a distinguished, older gentleman named George, then I'd assume it's one of WTSman's stories.
There was an author on here called Young Thinker who had a big tell. He always spelled 'handsome' as 'hansom'.
In my own stories, I'm trying to break the habit of giving cooking lessons. :) I'm not sure it'll work, but I'm trying.
WTSman names almost all of his male leads George.
Kind of like Charlie for Now names most of his MC's Charlie.
You write what you're most familiar with, so if you do something every day, it'll appear often in your stories. And if you never do it, like guys who burn water when heating water, you never mention it. ;)
In the dead tree world, John Irving always had a dancing bear in each novel. There's an image that is tough to top.
I've always preferred Scotch and Bourbons ('sipping whiskeys') as gin is mainly used in mixed-drinks. A stronger, bitter drink is normally intended to be sipped quietly over time, rather than guzzling as most beer-drinkers do.
That said, many alcoholics like stronger (high-proof) drinks for obvious reasons, yet I've always liked sitting back during parties, watching everyone else making fools of themselves while I keep sipping while my drink level rarely changes throughout the night.
Though again, I'm more of an exception than the norm in this regard too, as I've only met a few people who drink as consciously as I do—thought being a Type-1 diabetic most of my life has a lot to do with that too.
Lubrican almost always has a character that is or becomes 'Uncle Bob'.
I know other authors who appear to have have favorite character names.
I know other authors who appear to have have favorite character names.
It's a long time ago now, but someone made a suggestion of a Clitorides award "Best story with the MC called Ed" and that was aimed directly at Lazlong.
Yeah, and given his 'pregnancy' story preference, his use of "Uncle Bob" has an ever more ominous presence, as in "weird Uncle Bob", who's always trying to get into young girls pants. The proverbial 'love 'em and leave 'em once they get pregnant.
It's particular kink, but one I've never shared.
I don't think I've done it with stories…. I'm more likely to make a hint at other stories of mine to imply a somewhat shared universe.
Oddly enough though, in every ttrpg I've ever played, all my female characters have the same middle name.
There is one author that in almost every story had the love interest being a petite red head.
the love interest being a petite red head.
Charlie for Now is getting popular in this thread.
Oyster50 has Cindy, which while not the love interest in a story does seem to pop up in a lot of his stories.
Cindy, which [...] does seem to pop up in a lot of his stories.
That's because she is the driving force in the Smart Girls universe. The Stories are all related, Cindy, Nicky and Tina together with their much older husbands founded 3Sigma Engineering and formed the community around it.
IIRC, there is no Cindy in his over 20 other stories.
More significant is the profession of the MCs – male and female – in most of his stories, they are engineers and engineering students.
HM.
Wes Boyd keeps taking a poke at weather forecasters, implying they get it wrong deliberately
e.g.,
...they'll tell you they had a Ham and Cheese sandwich for lunch when they actually had Tuna salad, just to keep in practice.
Referring to the airline "Northworst" (I've flown with them quite a few times, and yes - occasionally they overbooked flights).
I tend to make characters secretly fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I do it just to amuse myself.
I do it just to amuse myself.
Pretty much this! Though it has been said, once or twice, that my tell, tends to be angry women/girls....
https://storiesonline.net/a/oyster50 occasionally makes his characters reference "My Little Pony", although not necessarily as fans.
In Holly Rennick's "Cindy's top tips for sibling success" My Little Ponies serve an important plot point for a girl to seduce her brother.
~ JBB